Face sheet shear-off constraints added in design of blast resistance panel

Abstract

The aim of this project is to include face sheet shear-off constraints in the design of Blast resistant Panel (BRP). This project is an extension of the previous work of final year students Chen Zewei and Bendict Chui which was robust design of BRP integrating both mechanical design and material design. The reasons for this extension and inclusion of shear constraint are to make the design of BRP respond realistically to mine blast, and also because optimization design of BRP favors thin faces which are susceptible to shear-off. If shear-off occurs at face sheet, the BRP would not be able to function as it ought to of receiving minimum deflection and absorbing most of the energy coming from the mine blast.

Integrating of face sheet shear-off constraints involves firstly determining of equations that is to be imposed on the design of BRP. The necessary equations will then be scripted into MATLAB m file. After which the shear-off constraints MATLAB file will be integrated into the design of BRP using Phoenix Model Center. Optimization was done using Gradient Optimizer of Phoenix Model Center of which shear-off constraints are set as constraints which must not be violated.

The BRP was designed successfully with shear constraint integrated. Comparison of results with previous work was done and improvements in the mass, deflection and these variances have been attempted. Improvements of previous design of BRP were achieved but only separate individual improvement of either mass or deflection.