Development of a large-diameter gas gun for studies of gage validation and dynamic material properties
type: CreativeWork
description: A large diameter gas gun has been developed which fires a 4-ft diameter, 3,200 lb projectile downward at velocities up to 230 ft/sec. The impact of the projectile onto geologic or other material specimens beneath the gun provides precise shock environments for shock physics studies, especially the evaluation and validation of ground-motion instruments, and the development of dynamic material properties data for large specimens. This thesis describes the operating principle of the gun. A mathematical model of the gun is developed and compared with experiment results. Predictions of nuisance effects associated with testing, e.g., far-field ground motion and airblast, are compared with experiment results. Descriptions of target construction and testing procedures are given. Examples of stress and ground-motion data collected in sand targets are presented, as well as typical data-analysis procedures.
abstract: A large diameter gas gun has been developed which fires a 4-ft diameter, 3,200 lb projectile downward at velocities up to 230 ft/sec. The impact of the projectile onto geologic or other material specimens beneath the gun provides precise shock environments for shock physics studies, especially the evaluation and validation of ground-motion instruments, and the development of dynamic material properties data for large specimens. This thesis describes the operating principle of the gun. A mathematical model of the gun is developed and compared with experiment results. Predictions of nuisance effects associated with testing, e.g., far-field ground motion and airblast, are compared with experiment results. Descriptions of target construction and testing procedures are given. Examples of stress and ground-motion data collected in sand targets are presented, as well as typical data-analysis procedures.
author: White, Howard Grantham
language: eng
keywords: Applied Mechanics, Geophysics
date published: 2011-05-07T12:03:32Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:12Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/19311