6. A Method for Determining Impact Force for Single and Tri Axis Resonant Plate Shock Simulations

In the past year, resonant plate tests designed to excite all three axes simultaneously have become increasingly popular at Sandia National Labs. Historically, only one axis was tested at a time, but unintended off axis responses were generated. In order to control the off-axis motion so that off-axis responses were created which satisfy appropriate test specifications, the test setup has to be iteratively modified so that the coupling between axes was desired. The iterative modifications were done with modeling and simulation. To model the resonant plate test, an accurate forcing function must be specified. For resonant plate shock experiments, the input force of the projectile impacting the plate is prohibitively difficult to measure in situ. To improve on current simulation results, a method to use contact forces from an explicit simulation as an input load was implemented. This work covers an overview and background of three axes resonant plate shock tests, their design, their value in experiments, and the difficulties faced in simulating them. The work also covers a summary of contact force implementation in an explicit dynamics code and how it is used to evaluate an input force for a three axes resonant plate simulation. The results from the work show 3D finite element projectile and impact block interactions as well as simulation shock response data compared to experimental shock response data.