Pressurized Composite Bottles

IMPULSIVE LOADING OF PRESSURIZED COMPOSITE BOTTLES

Several tests were performed at Area 2 of the remote test site to study the effects of an impulsive load on a solid-fuel rocket motor. In this series of tests, 0.5-m-diameter fiber-wound Kevlar/epoxy pressure bottles filled with propellant simulant and pressurized to flight conditions were loaded with Detasheet explosive directly applied to the external surface. The Detasheet was rolled, then layered and perforated in a pattern to produce an approximately cosine-distributed pulse. The internal pressure and external strains were measured, including surface strains directly beneath the explosive. High-speed movies captured the sequence of bottle response and mode of failure.