Publications

Characterization of Aluminum Honeycomb and Experimentation for Model Development and Validation, Volume I: Discovery and Characterization Experiments for High-Density Aluminum Honeycomb

Lu, Wei-Yang L.; Korellis, John S.; Lee, Kenneth L.; Scheffel, Simon S.; Hinnerichs, Terry D.; Neilsen, Michael K.; Scherzinger, William M.

Honeycomb is a structure that consists of two-dimensional regular arrays of open cells. High-density aluminum honeycomb has been used in weapon assemblies to mitigate shock and protect payload because of its excellent crush properties. In order to use honeycomb efficiently and to certify the payload is protected by the honeycomb under various loading conditions, a validated honeycomb crush model is required and the mechanical properties of the honeycombs need to be fully characterized. Volume I of this report documents an experimental study of the crush behavior of high-density honeycombs. Two sets of honeycombs were included in this investigation: commercial grade for initial exploratory experiments, and weapon grade, which satisfied B61 specifications. This investigation also includes developing proper experimental methods for crush characterization, conducting discovery experiments to explore crush behaviors for model improvement, and identifying experimental and material uncertainties.