China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Simple Elements
Published in Steven M. Lepi, Practical Guide to Finite Elements, 2020
What is a structural shell? A shell is a relatively thin, “surface type” structure that has initial curvature and can carry bending loads through a combination of bending and membrane deformation. Bending deformation in a shell is analogous to bending in a flat plate, while the membrane deformation is similar to that which occurs in a plane stress member. However, in an actual shell structure, the bending and membrane affects are coupled, such that the bending deformation in one portion of the structure affects the membrane in another.
Fire-Arms
Published in Robert Routledge, Discoveries and Inventions of the Ninteenth Century, 2018
Shells are also used with the Woolwich rifled guns. The shells are of the same shape as the solid shots, from which they differ in being cast hollow, and having their interior filled with gunpowder. Such shells when used against iron structures require no fuse; they explode in coming into collision with their object. In other cases, however, the shells are provided with fuses, which cause the explosion when the shot strikes. Fig. 93, page 195, represents one of the 35-ton guns, made on the plan introduced by Mr. Fraser. This piece of ordnance is 16 ft. long, 4 ft. 3 in. in diameter at the breech, and 1 ft. 9 in. at the muzzle. The bore is about 1 ft. Each gun can throw a shot or bolt 700 lbs. in weight, with a charge of 120 lbs. of powder. It is stated that the shot, if fired at a short range, would penetrate a plate of iron 14 in. thick, and that at a distance of 2,000 yards it would retain sufficient energy to go through a plate 12 in. thick. The effect of these ponderous missiles upon thick iron plates is very remarkable. Targets or shields have been constructed with plates and timber backing, girders, &c, put together in the strongest possible manner, in order to test the resisting power of the armour plating and other constructions of our iron-clad ships. The above two cuts, Figs. 95 and 96, are representations of the appearance of the front and back of a very strong shield of this description, after having been struck with a few 600 lb. shots fired from the 25-ton gun. The shots with chilled heads, already referred to, sometimes were found to penetrate completely through the 8 in. front plate, and the 6 in. of solid teak, and the 6 in. of plating at the back. The shield, though strongly constructed with massive plates of iron, only served to prove the relative superiority of the artillery of that day, which was at the time when our century had yet about thirty years to run. Up to 1876 no confidence was placed in steel as a resisting material, a circumstance perhaps not much to be wondered at, as its capabilities had not then been developed by the newer processes of manufacture, described in our article on Iron; nor had mechanicians acquired the power of operating with large masses of the metal. Since then it has come about that only steel is relied upon for efficiently resisting the penetration of projectiles, iron being held of no account except as a backing. There has always been a rivalry between the artillerist and the naval constructor, and this contest between the attacking and the defending agencies is well illustrated in the table on page 166, where the parallel advance in the destructive power of guns and in the resisting power of our war-ships is exhibited in a numerical form.
The Trinity High-Explosive Implosion System: The Foundation for Precision Explosive Applications
Published in Nuclear Technology, 2021
Eric N. Brown, Dan L. Borovina
Kistiakowsky indicated Composition B was chosen for the Christy Gadget and Fat Man because one of his “associate organic chemists, primarily Dr. Bachmann of the University of Michigan, discovered the so-called Process B (Bachmann) of making RDX relatively economically” going back to his connections from his NDRC and OSRD days. Based on these advances, and being convinced of Composition B’s superior qualities, the Army hired the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, New York, to manage the production of RDX. Kodak established a subsidiary, the Tennessee Eastman Company, to operate what is now known as the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. The site is presently the primary U.S. supplier of explosive materials for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and is today the sole U.S. producer for RDX, HMX, and 1,3,5-Triaminotrinitrobenzene, as well as formulated molding powder for polymer-bonded explosives (PBX) 9501 and PBX 9502. While Composition B is still widely used in conventional munitions, the DOD is slowly replacing Composition B with insensitive high-explosive (IHE) formulations such as with Insensitive Munitions Explosive (IMX) 101 in U.S. military artillery shells and with IMX 104 in mortar rounds and hand grenades.33 For plane-wave lenses to support R&D, in the mid-1980s LANL changed over to using pressed plastic-bonded explosive PBX 9501 for the fast component.28
Towards developing a test method for military pelvic protection*
Published in The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2018
Christopher Saunders, Debra Carr
Quantifying the threat from IEDs is challenging, by their very nature IEDs are improvised and although the intent may be to build them to a common design with interchangeable components, in reality they are often constructed with whatever comes to hand. This variety and inconsistency is an important factor to understand as is the concept that the threat faced is theatre- and region-dependent. The main charges of IEDs in Afghanistan typically utilised military explosives harvested from explosive remnants of war (whole items of recovered military ordnance such as artillery shells or mortar bombs), commercial mining explosives or home-made explosive (HME). Military explosive is usually more efficient than commercial explosive which is usually more efficient than HME. Portable mortar bombs, grenades and anti-personnel mines might contain less than a few hundred grams of explosive. Typical anti-personnel IEDs in Afghanistan would consist of a charge of approximately 5 kg HME contained within a 5 L polymeric container and other associated switching and power components. All components would then be buried just below the surface. Soil in Afghanistan is predominantly sand based, of very poor quality, low in nutrients and prone to soil erosion (US Dept of Agriculture, 2005). Device initiation would usually be by the victim (or one of the victims) standing on the switch initiating detonation. Such IEDs typically led to fatalities and very severe injuries including multiple amputations.
Developing Early Iron Armour: The Development of Rolling as the Preferred Method of Manufacture Between 1854 and 1863
Published in The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 2022
There had been experiments with iron warships, armour and explosive artillery shells in the 1830s and 1840s. The Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of France, Britain and the Ottoman Empire in 1853 showed the need for improved ship protection when the Russian fleet burnt and destroyed a Turkish flotilla at Sinope, on the north coast of Turkey, in a vivid demonstration of the effectiveness of explosive shells against wooden ships.