Publications Details

Modeling pyroshock attenuation in cylindrical space structures∗

Lee, Daniel L.; Babuska, Vit B.

Pyroshock events from the actuation of separation devices in satellites and launch vehicles are potentially damaging, very short, high intensity events with high frequency content. The pyroshock damage risk is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the shock intensity is attenuated by the spacecraft structure. The NASA and MIL standards, developed from extensive tests performed in the 1960’s, provide pyroshock attenuation guidelines for various structures common to spacecraft and launch vehicles. In this paper, we present the results from a numerical investigation of pyroshock attenuation in cylindrical shell structures. Pyroshock events were modeled using Sandia National Laboratories’ engineering mechanics simulation codes, specifically Sierra/SD. Upon verifying the numerical simulation results against a NASA-HDBK-7005 curve, various structural features were added and design variables were varied to investigate their effects on pyroshock wave propagation and attenuation. The results showed that current numerical simulation tools, given appropriate tuning parameters, are capable of modeling pyroshock events in a simple cylindrical geometry at a reasonable cost. The numerical simulations showed that the presence of geometric features had greater attenuating effects than previously understood. However, shock attenuation levels were less sensitive to design variables of the structural features than expected.