Fracture Evaluation and Design Tool for Welded Aluminum Ship Structures Subjected to Impulsive Dynamic Loading Navy STTR FY2010.A Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2010.A Topic No.: N10A-T041 Topic Title: Fracture Evaluation and Design Tool for Welded Aluminum Ship Structures Subjected to Impulsive Dynamic Loading Proposal No.: N10A-041-0223 Firm: Weidlinger Associates, Inc. 375 Hudson St FL 12 New York, New York 10014-3656 Contact: Pawel Woelke Phone: (212) 367-3000 Web Site: http://www.wai.com Abstract: Aluminum as a structural material for naval applications has a number of advantages over steel, owing mainly to significant weight reductions which translate to higher speed and range attainable by aluminum vessels. A comprehensive study of research needs for aluminum structures conducted under the ONR program identified the key research areas, which included material behavior and fracture evaluation and design of welded aluminum structures subjected to dynamic loading. In order to meet the Navy's needs for a lightweight, high speed aluminum vessels, a new, accurate and efficient analysis and limit state based design methodology for welded aluminum ship structures is proposed. The proposed methodology accounts for anisotropic, nonlinear and rate dependent behavior of aluminum sheets, subjected to dynamic loads causing fracture and failure of structural components. A comprehensive analysis and design toolkit will be developed, allowing for better estimates of the ultimate strength and design safety factors. Substantially more efficient, accurate and rational design of high speed aluminum ships will result, which could lead to great savings in military and commercial applications. Benefits: An advanced computational toolkit for the dynamic response and fracture of welded aluminum naval vessels and components is proposed. Substantial emphasis is placed on capturing the fundamental physics and on validating the accuracy of the computational schemes against component-size tests, while retaining the efficiency required for large scale dynamic response simulations of naval vessels. A critical outcome of this academic R&D transition effort is to enable the development of a practical computational model suitable for naval architects and designers, and that would enable a rational design approach for the next generation of rapid aluminum vessels. This approach would inherently recognize the specific limitations of welded aluminum and yet eliminate the over-conservatism of the current design approach. Return