Force reconstruction for impact tests of an energy-absorbing nose

Delivery of a bomb into a hard target at speeds of up to 36.6 m/s (120 fps) required the design of an energy-absorbing nose. The purpose of the nose is to decelerate the projectile and, by absorbing the kinetic energy with deformation, protect the projectile's internal components from high-level (shock) decelerations. A structural simulation of the projectile was designed to test the dynamic deformation characteristics of the energy-absorbing nose. The simulated projectile was instrumented with eight accelerometers mounted with a shock isolation technique. The dynamic force as a function of nose deformation was the desired result from the impact tests because it provides the designer with a performance criterion for the nose design. The dynamic force was obtained by combining the accelerations using the Sum of Weighted Accelerations Technique (SWAT). Results from two field tests are presented.