Shock Wave Propagation in Periodically Layered Composites

Citation

Zhuang, Shiming (2002) Shock Wave Propagation in Periodically Layered Composites. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/988X-1V27. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05102011-141326530

Abstract

Mathematically, a shock wave is treated as a discontinuity in a medium. In reality, however, a shock wave is always structured, i.e., its front takes a finite time to rise from an initial material state to the final shocked state. The structuring of a shock front is due to the competition between the nonlinearity of material behavior and the dissipation processes occurring during the wave propagation. There are many mechanisms which may be responsible for the dissipation and/or dispersion of shock wave energy. In homogeneous media, such as metals, one common interpretation for the structuring of a shock wave is that the viscoplasticity processes (dislocation, twinning, etc.) are responsible for the dissipation of energy. While in heterogeneous composites, besides the viscous dissipative processes existing in each of its constituents, due to the existence of internal interfaces, the scattering induced by the interface during shock compression could be another important mechanism. In this study, the interface scattering effects on shock wave propagation in heterogeneous media were investigated by subjecting periodically layered composites to planar impact loading with a flyer plate. The flyer plate was accelerated to a desired velocity using a powder gun loading system. In order to measure shock particle velocity time history at an internal or the free surface of the specimen, the so-called VISAR (Velocity Interferometry System for Any Reflector) diagnostic system was constructed and used during shock compression experiments. Manganin stress gages were embedded inside the specimen at selected internal interfaces to measure shock stress time history. To study the scattering mechanisms of the interface to waves, two-component composite specimens with different interface mechanical properties and heterogeneity were prepared and tested. Different types of composites were prepared with differing mechanical impedance. Specimens with different heterogeneity were obtained by changing the geometrical configuration (length scale) of the layered stack. Two-dimensional numerical simulations were also carried out to understand the process of shock wave evolution in the layered composites. Experimental and numerical studies show that periodically layered composites support steady structured shock waves. The influence of internal interfaces on the shock wave propagation is through the scattering mechanism, i.e., multiple reflection of waves in the layers and their interaction with the shock wave. The interface scattering affects both the bulk and the deviatoric response of the composite to shock compression. The influence of scattering on the bulk behavior is to slow down the velocity of the shock wave in the composites, while its influence on the deviatoric response is to structure the shock wave profile. If all the dissipative and dispersive effects are collectively termed as viscosity, which causes the shock front structuring, i.e., the shock front rise-time increasing, then the effective shock viscosity increases with the increase of interface impedance mismatch and decreases with the increase of interface density (interface area per unit volume) and shock loading strength. The existing mixture model for constructing the constitutive relation for composites based on the known properties of its component materials can only, at best, reasonably predict the response of the composites under strong shock loading conditions. In order to fully describe the response of a heterogeneous composite to shock compression loading, accurate physics-based constitutive relations need to be formulated to take into account the scattering effects induced by the heterogeneous microstructure.

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