Publications

Construction of an unyielding target for large horizontal impacts

Ammerman, Douglas J.; Davie, Neil T.; Kalan, Robert K.

Sandia National Laboratories has constructed an unyielding target at the end of its 2000-foot rocket sled track. This target is made up of approximately 5 million pounds of concrete, an embedded steel load spreading structure, and a steel armor plate face that varies from 10 inches thick at the center to 4 inches thick at the left and right edges. The target/track combination will allow horizontal impacts at regulatory speeds of very large objects, such as a full-scale rail cask, or high-speed impacts of smaller packages. The load-spreading mechanism in the target is based upon the proven design that has been in use for over 20 years at Sandia's aerial cable facility. That target, with a weight of 2 million pounds, has successfully withstood impact forces of up to 25 million pounds. It is expected that the new target will be capable of withstanding impact forces of more than 70 million pounds. During construction various instrumentation was placed in the target so that the response of the target during severe impacts can be monitored. This paper will discuss the construction of the target and provide insights on the testing capabilities at the sled track with this new target.