Dynamic response of curved composite panels to underwater explosive loading: Experimental and computational comparisons

The response of E-Glass/Vinyl ester curved composite panels subjected to underwater explosive loading has been studied. The work consists of experimental testing utilizing a water filled conical shock tube facility and computational simulations with the commercially available Ls-Dyna finite element code. The composite specimens are 0/90 biaxial laminates with a thickness of approximately 1.3 mm. The samples are round panels with curved midsections. The transient response of the plates is measured using a three-dimensional (3D) Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system, along with high speed photography. This ultra high speed system records full field shape and displacement profiles in real time. The DIC data and the computational results show a high level of correlation using the Russell error measure.