58th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference at AIAA SciTech 2017 Grapevine, Texas, USA 9 - 13 January 2017

AIAA 2017-0126

Coupled Electromechanical Peridynamic Modeling of Strain and Damage Sensing in Granular Energetic Materials

N. Parakash and G. Seidel
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0203, USA

Polymer or plastic bonded explosives are a type of energetic materials consisting of explosive grains dispersed in a polymer binder. These complex materials are susceptible to damage in a low velocity impact event during transportation and handling, which can weaken the material in addition to the possibility of accidental ignition. Therefore, it is important to monitor in real time, the structural health of the material for safe transportation and handling. It is proposed that dispersing carbon nanotubes within the binder phase will allow for in-situ structural health monitoring owing to the unique piezoresistive properties of nanocomposites. In this work, a computational electromechanical framework based on the nonlocal theory of peridynamics is used to investigate the strain and damage sensing properties of nanocomposite bonded explosive materials (NCBX). The peridynamics computational framework allows in capturing key deformation mechanisms like interface debonding and granular fracture which are important in assessing the piezoresistive response in the damage regime. Based on the computational results presented in this work, it is found that there is promise for in - situ monitoring of granular energetic materials based on the piezoresistive properties of nanocomposites which may prove to be be advantageous over current methods.