Effect of Needle Type, Number of Layers on FPAFC Composite against Low-Velocity Projectile Impact

Protective structures subjected to intensive loads that may benefit from the use of multilayer composite structures with excellent hardness and impact resistance represent an emerging research field in recent times. In this study, low-velocity projectile impact tests were performed on Functionally-graded Preplaced Aggregate Fibrous Concrete (FPAFC) mixtures to evaluate their performance. The effects of projectile needle type, fibre type and hybridization in addition to the number of layers in the composites on projectile impact were investigated. The bioinspiration of the excellent impact strength of turtle shells was used to design an FPAFC comprising a higher amount of steel and polypropylene fibres at the outer layers. In parallel, one and two-layered concretes were also cast to assess the effectiveness of three-layered FPAFC. The tests were performed on disc specimens using non-deformable compound bevel, convex edge and hollow edge projectiles. The damage severity was quantified by the top damage area, bottom damage area and depth of penetration. In addition, a simple analytical model for predicting the composite mass expulsion was developed and implemented. Findings indicated that regardless of fiber type and distribution, the compound bevel projectile needle produced the lowest impact numbers for all single, double and triple-layer specimens compared to the convex edge and hollow edge projectiles. Repeated projectile impacts increased the penetration depth and damaged area at the top and bottom surfaces of all targets. Targets were more resistant to convex edge and hollow edge projectile penetration than the compound bevel. The experimental and analytical model results for mass expelled from the top surface are reasonably acceptable. This research gives an idea of developing advanced fibrous composite with superior impact resistance for the promising protective structures.

The effect of different structural designs on impact resistance to carbon fiber foam sandwich structures

The development of the composite materials in the past decades has made the composite materials more and more widely used in various engineering fields. The mechanical properties of the composite materials are gradually improved, especially the impact resistance. In this article, the damage of carbon fiber foam sandwich structure (material grade: W-3021FF/H60) under different sandwich thicknesses and impact energies was studied. Ultrasonic C-scan was used to measure the depth and area of impact damage area. Finally, the impact energy and foam core thickness on impact damage was analyzed by test results. The results show that the impact damage depth and area of foam sandwich structure were positively related to the impact energy, and with the increase in the impact energy, the growth rate of damage depth and damage area changes; the greater the thickness of the foam core was, the stronger the span-direction guiding energy for impact energy, the larger the damage area and the smaller the damage depth. Under the same energy, the more the layers of carbon fiber cloth with the foam sandwich structure, the larger the impact damage depth and the smaller the impact damage area. The proportion of ±45° ply in the foam sandwich structure can improve its impact resistance.

Study on the Thermal and Impact Resistance Properties of Micro PA66/PU Synergistically Reinforced Multi-Layered Biaxial Weft Knitted Fabric Composites

In this paper, the influence of micro PA66/PU in multi-layered biaxial weft knitted (MBWK) fabric reinforced composites on thermal and impact resistance was studied. The main objective was to investigate the role of micro PA66/PU in terms of improving material performance. The results showed that the addition of micro PA66/PU improved the thermal stability of the MBWK composite. It is observed that the onset degradation temperatures increased by 1.6°C in thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) test and the Tg increased by 2.8°C in the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) test. Besides, the impact energy absorption of composites increased by 5.3% after the addition of micro PA66/PU. The addition of micro PA66/PU effectively reduced the impact damage area from the failure morphology after impact. In simple words, the addition of micro PA66/PU effectively improves the comprehensive properties of composites.

Study on the Stability of Coal Pillars Under the Disturbance of Repeated Mining in a Double-Roadway Layout System

The double-roadway layout system, which is extensively applied in large mines, has the potential to significantly balance excavation-mining and improve mine ventilation and transportation capacity. However, the coal pillar in the double-roadway layout system is easily destabilized due to the disturbance of repeated mining, which has a significant impact on the safety and reliability of coal mines. This paper takes the coal pillar and its supporting structure of the double-roadway layout system as the research object, establishes a UDEC trigon numerical calculation model, and systematically corrects the input parameters, while explaining the excavation method of roadways and the simulation method of the supporting structure element. The numerical simulation results show that under the conventional support intensity conditions, the internal damage of the coal pillar during the excavation period is about 20%, while the internal damage to the coal pillar develops to 55% throughout the first-panel mining. During the disturbance of repeated mining, the damage in the coal pillar increased to 90%, and the coal pillar was already in a state of failure. Under the combined control of rock bolts and counter-pulled anchor cables, the coal pillar damage does not change significantly during the excavation and first-panel mining. During the disturbance of repeated mining, the damage of the coal pillar is reduced to 63%. There is a certain low damage area in the coal pillar, which can ensure the stability of the coal pillar and its supporting structure as a whole. Furthermore, the on-site monitoring results show that the maximum value of the floor-to-roof and rib-to-rib convergence of a W1310 tailgate during the repeated mining disturbance stage is 730 and 620 mm, respectively. The findings of this study give an approach to—as well as estimated values for the design of, including its “small structure” control technical parameters—the double-roadway layout system.

Experimental Study on the Mechanical Behavior and Failure Characteristics of Layered Coal at Medium Strain Rates

The study of the mechanical properties and failure behaviors for coal with different bedding structures at various medium strain rates is of great importance for revealing the mechanism of rock burst. In our study, we systematically analyze the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), acoustic emission (AE) characteristics, failure pattern, and risk of rock burst on coal specimens with two bedding orientations under ranged in strain rates from 10−4 s−1 to 10−2 s−1. The results reflect that and the bedding direction and the strain rates significantly affect the UCS and failure modes of coal specimens. The UCS of coal specimens with loading directions perpendicular to bedding planes (horizontal bedding) increases logarithmically with increasing strain rate while the UCS increases first and then decreases of coal specimens with loading directions parallel to bedding planes (vertical bedding). The AE cumulative energy of the specimens with horizontal bedding is an order of magnitude higher than that of specimens with vertical bedding. However, it is independent of the strain rates. The energy release rates of these two types of bedded coal specimens increase in a power function as the strain rate increases. The coal specimens with horizontal bedding show violent failure followed by the ejection of fragments, indicating a high risk of rock burst. On the other hand, the coal specimens with vertical bedding exhibit a tensile splitting failure with a low risk of rock burst. Strain localization is a precursor of coal failure, and the concentration area of local principal strain is highly consistent with the initial damage area, and the area where the principal strain gradient is significantly increased corresponds to the fracture initiation area.

Determination of the efficiency of a multiple launch rocket system

Up-to-date multiple launch rocket systems (MLRSs) are adopted by many countries of the world, and they are an effective weapon against dispersed multiple targets. Developing and upgrading MLRSs calls for estimating their efficiency with the aim to select an optimum alternative. For an MLRS, the basic measure of area target destruction efficiency is the relative damage area. This measure depends on the damage area of the MLRS itself (extent of damage by one salvo). The paper suggests a relative criterion that allow one to estimate and optimize the salvo damage area. The criterion is based on the ratio of the salvo damage area to the maximum damage area and that of the undamaged area to the coverage area. The coverage area is defined as the area of the enveloping convex polygon for all points of missile impact in a salvo. It is shown that the domain of variation of the suggested criterion is the interval [0, 1]. Using the suggested criterion for 4 points of missile impact with a circular damage area, two basic structures are studied: a rhomb (two regular triangles) and a square. For them, optimum distances between the missile impact points that maximize the destruction level are determined. It is shown that the obtained optimum arrangement of missile impact points allows one to bring the extent of damage for the square structure to the more optimum rhomb layout (represents a part of the hexagonal structure, which is the most efficient from the standpoint of the packing problem). For a 16-missile salvo, it is shown that from the standpoint of the suggested criterion there exists an optimum relation between the missile damage area (radius) and the technical scattering parameters. The maximum value of the criterion for a missile salvo with account for the technical spread does not exceed 0.33 and is much lower than the value that can be obtained for the optimum structures (rhomb and square). The paper shows possibilities of using the criterion in deciding on optimum missile impact points with account for various typical targets within a multiple target and missile damage area configurations other than a circle.

Rebound Mechanism and Control of the Hard Main Roof in the Deep Mining Roadway in Huainan Mining Area

Taking the occurrence conditions of the hard main roof in the deep 13-1 coal mining roadway in Huainan mining area as the research object, based on the mechanical parameters of the surrounding rock and the stress state of the main roof obtained by numerical simulation, a simply supported beam calculation model was established based on the damage factor D, main roof support reaction RA, RB, and critical range C (9 m) and B (7 m) at the elastoplastic junction of the solid coal side and mining face side (hereinafter referred to as “junction”). Considering that the damage area still has a large bearing capacity, the vertical stress of the main roof at the junction is K1γH (0.05γh, 0.15γh, and 0.25γh) and K2γH (0.01γh, 0.10γh, and 0.2γh). The maximum deflection is 21 mm, 324 mm, and 627.6 mm, respectively. According to the criterion of tensile failure, the maximum bending moment of the top beam is 209 mN·m at the side of the working face 3.1 m away from the roadway side when K1 = 0.15 and K2 = 0.10, and the whole hard main roof is in tensile failure except the junction. To control the stability of the top beam and simplify the supporting reaction to limit the deformation of the slope angle, RC and RD are used to construct the statically indeterminate beam. By adding an anchor cable and advance self-moving support to the roadway side angle, the problem of difficult control of the surrounding rock with a large deformation of the side angle roof is solved, which provides a reference for roof control under similar conditions.