Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Shock wave attenuation using sandwiched structures made up of polymer foams and shear thickening fluid

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study experimentally investigates the shock wave attenuation performance of various sandwiched structures made up of different polymer foams (expanded polystyrene and polyurethane foam) with and without shear thickening fluid (STF). STF is a non-Newtonian fluid whose viscosity increases with increase in shear rate due to the formation of hydro clusters produced by the increased hydrodynamic forces acting between the interstitial spaces. Two layers of polymer foams have been considered for the shock protective material and the space between the layers is filled with shear thickening fluid. The shock wave is experimentally generated from a shock tube facility and is allowed to impinge on a target plate kept at 10 mm downstream to the shock tube end. It is seen that the protective material with polyurethane foam and shear thickening fluid (polyethylene glycol+silica nanoparticles) reduces the shock overpressure by nearly 35.51 %, whereas the protective material with only polyurethane foam (with the same thickness) reduces the shock overpressure by only 13.17 %. Similarly, the protective material with expanded polystyrene and shear thickening fluid reduces the shock overpressure by nearly 32.16 %, whereas the protective material with only expanded polystyrene (with the same thickness) reduces the shock overpressure by only 10.49 %. Hence, it is evident that the shear thickening fluid between the polymer foam layers greatly helps in shock wave attenuation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ACH :

Advance combat helmet

bTBI :

Blast-induced traumatic brain injury

CFD :

Computational flow dynamics

PEG :

Polyethylene glycol

STF :

Shear thickening fluid

UD :

Unidirectional

UHMWP :

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene

P1 :

Pressure at driver section

P2 :

Pressure at driven section

References

  1. A. C. Courtney and M. W. Courtney, A thoracic mechanism of mild traumatic brain injury due to blast pressure waves, Med. Hypotheses, 72 (1) (2009) 76–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. I. Cernak, Z. Wang, J. Jiang, X. Bian and J. Savic, Ultrastructural and functional characteristics of blast injury-induced neurotrauma, J. Trauma, 50 (4) (2001) 695–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. H. L. Lew, J. H. Poole, S. Alvarez and W. Moore, Soldiers with occult traumatic brain injury, Amer J. Phys. Med. Rehab., 84 (2005) 393–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. D. R. Mott, D. A. Schwer, T. R. Young, J. Levine, J. P. Dionne, A. Makris and G. Hubler, Blast-induced pressure yields beneath a military helmet, Proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on Military Aspects of Blast and Shock, Oslo, Norway (2008).

  5. M. A. Abtew, F. Boussu and P. Bruniaux, Dynamic impact protective body armour: A comprehensive appraisal on panel engineering design and its prospective materials, Defence Technology, 17 (6) (2021) 2027–2049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. H. Sarvghad-Moghaddam, A. Rezaei, M. Ziejewski and G. Karami, CFD modeling of the underwash effect of military helmets as a possible mechanism for blast-induced traumatic brain injury, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 20 (2017) 16–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. W. C. Moss, M. J. King and E. G. Blackman, Skull flexure from blast waves, a mechanism for brain injury with implications for helmet design, Phys. Rev. Lett., 103 (10) (2009) 108702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. S. Bloodworth-Race, R. Critchley, R. Hazael, A. Peare and T. Temple, Testing the blast response of foam inserts for helmets, Heliyon, 7 (5) (2021) e06990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. S. Sharma, R. Makwana and L. Zhang, Evaluation of blast mitigation capability of advanced combat helmet by finite element modelling, 12th International LS-DYNA® Users Conference (2012) 1–12.

  10. A. Kumar and V. Pathak, Shock wave mitigation using zig-zag structures and cylindrical obstructions, Defence Technology, 17 (6) (2021) 1840–1851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. R. G. Egres and J. W. Norman, The rheology and microstructure of acicular precipitated calcium carbonate colloidal suspensions through the shear thickening transition, Journal of Rheology, 49 (3) (2005) 719–746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. R. L. Hoffman, Discontinuous and dilatant viscosity behavior in concentrated suspensions, II. theory and experimental tests, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 46 (3) (1974) 491–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. H. A. Barnes, Shear-thickening (dilatancy) in suspensions of nonaggregating solid particles dispersed in newtonian liquids, J. Rheol, 33 (1989) 329–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. M. Karahan, A. Jabbar and N. Karahan, Ballistic impact behavior of the aramid and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composites, J. Reinf. Plast Compos, 34 (1) (2015) 37–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. D. Zhang, Y. Sun, L. Chen, S. Zhang and N. Pan, Influence of fabric structure and thickness on the ballistic impact behavior of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene composite laminate, Mater. Des., 54 (2014) 315–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. V. B. C. Tan, T. E. Tay and W. K. Teo, Strengthening fabric armour with silica colloidal suspensions, Int. J. Solids Struct., 42 (2005) 1561–1576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. D. V. Mishra, A. Mishra, A. Singh, V. Verma and G. Rajesh, Ballistic impact performance of UHMWP fabric impregnated with shear thickening fluid nanocomposite, Composite Structure, 281 (2022) 114991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Y. S. Lee, E. D. Wetzel and N. J. Wagner, The ballistic impact characteristics of Kevlar® woven fabrics impregnated with a colloidal shear thickening fluid, Journal of Materials Science, 38 (13) (2003) 2825–2833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. A. Haris, H. P. Lee, T. E. Tay and V. B. C. Tan, Shear thickening fluid impregnated ballistic fabric composites for shock wave mitigation, Int. J. Impact Eng., 80 (2015) 143–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. X. Wu, F. Zhong, Q. Yin and C. Huang, Dynamic response of shear thickening fluid under laser induced shock, Applied Physics Letters, 106 (7) (2015) 071903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research project is funded by the INSPIRE research grant (IFA-18-ENG-251) from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 342037, India

    Kehar Singh, Rajat Raj & Arun Kumar Rajagopal

  2. Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 342037, India

    Sachin Jalwal & Subrata Chakraborty

Authors
  1. Kehar Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rajat Raj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arun Kumar Rajagopal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sachin Jalwal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Subrata Chakraborty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arun Kumar Rajagopal.

Additional information

Arun Kumar R is working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur (IITJ), India. He received his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), India. His research interests include shock wave reflections, blast wave attenuation, highspeed internal and external flows, experimental aerodynamics.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, K., Raj, R., Rajagopal, A.K. et al. Shock wave attenuation using sandwiched structures made up of polymer foams and shear thickening fluid. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 1311–1316 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0217-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0217-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation