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Center for Infrastructure Renewal

Texas A&M University

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Shield Lab for Infrastructure Protection

Summary

Shield Lab gas gun

The state-of-the-art Hypervelocity Impact Shield Lab for Infrastructure Protection is aimed at enabling unique high-rate materials characterization and multiscale numerical model development and implementation. A state-of-the-art two-stage light gas gun (2SLGG), capable of launching 2-10 mm diameter projectiles at velocities in the range of 2-8 km/s (4400-18,000 miles/hour), is the focal point of this lab. It will provide a test bed for the development and tailoring of novel layered structures comprised of polymers, composites, metals, ceramics, soft materials, gels and geomaterials to mitigate hypervelocity impacts.

Work With UsVirtual Tour of LabHypervelocity Impact Lab Siteshield iconbullet icon

Research

  • Tailoring of high strain rate materials of extreme environments.
  • Conduct state-of-the-art experiments necessary to characterize ultra-high rate materials behavior.
  • Quantification of the dynamic high velocity impact response of different materials over a broad range of impact velocities and target geometries.
  • Characterization and quantification of damage due to hypervelocity impact as a function of target material, target geometry, and impact velocity.
  • Develop and validate computationally-efficient, physics-based, multiscale materials models for predicting damage and failure.

Capabilities

  • Two-stage Light Gas Gun
    • Pump Tube: 8’ long and 1.75” diameter
    • Flight Tube: 12’ long and 0.5” diameter
    • Target Tank: 6’ long and 46” diameter
    • Velocity range: 2-8 km/s
    • High and low temperature testing capability
  • Instrumentation
    • Ultra-high-speed cameras (10 Mfps)
    • Flash X-rays (450 kV)

See us in action:

Lab Supervisor:

Thomas Lacy

Dr. Thomas E. Lacy Jr.

Professor, Mechanical Engineering
[email protected]
662-648-9213

Affiliated Researchers/
Faculty:

  • Justin Wilkerson
  • Waruna Kulatilaka
  • J. N. Reddy
  • Arun Srinivasa
  • Kalyan Raj Kota
  • Jacob Rogers
  • Paul Mead
  • Khari Harrison
  • Aniket Mote
  • Gavin Lukasik
  • Carson Lawrence
  • James Learverton
  • Nathaniel Bass
  • Cullen Miller
  • Max Murtaugh
  • Joseph Stricklin
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