Advanced Composite Army Assault Bridge Development Through Subcomponent Testing

Download or read book Advanced Composite Army Assault Bridge Development Through Subcomponent Testing written by GENERAL DYNAMICS/CONVAIR SAN DIEGO CALIF. and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basic purpose of this program was to demonstrate that advanced composite materials can be applied to the main load carrying elements of an armored vehicle launched assault bridge with a significant saving in weight over metallic structural materials. The study was carried out in three major segments: 1. A conceptual design and analysis concentrating on the shear panels; 2. A subelement test program to develop basic laminate and joint allowables to aid in design and analysis of critical portions of the bridge; also a test of two full scale composite test articles representing the critical joint areas in the selected concept; and 3. Design of a three meter lightweight bridge test section applying the results of 1 and 2 above. Basic analysis methods and assumptions regarding boundary conditions and stress concentration factors used in stability and strength analyses were verified by the structural test program. The final design resulted in a composite AVLB test section weighing 125.7 Kilograms/meter including the upper deck and all fittings. This indicates significant weight savings over a comparable design in aluminum. (Author).