Jover-Vega, Nannette

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Ballistic impact analysis of balsa core sandwich composites
(2013) Jover-Vega, Nannette; Shafiq, Basir; College of Engineering; Suárez, Luis; López Rodriguez, Ricardo R.; Department of Civil Engineering; Santos, Hernán
This thesis achieves a reasonable advance in understanding how balsa core sandwich composites with thin carbon fiber skins behave under impact loads through the empirical analysis of single and multiple impacts. It was found that the ballistic limit for this material is 96 m•s-1. This indicates that it is capable of withstanding impacts from small projectiles at intermediate velocities (10-100 m•s-1 ), i.e., secondary debris from blast, hurricane and tornado debris, and foreign object debris on roads and runways. The work principally examined the role of balsa wood as a core material. The visual inspection and non-destructive evaluation (NDE) tests showed that the damage propagation is relatively localized and that impacts that span out more than an inch from one another have minimal effects on the structure’s impact resistance. Further research may match these results to develop computer or mathematical models to understand parameters such as the stresses in the facesheets and the deformations during the impact event.