No abstract

Models for selected guidance laws were designed and built using The Mathworks' SIMULINK. These guidance law blocks were used in an exterior ballistics model to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing body fixed seekers for shipboard gun-launched guided munitions based on the kinematic capability of candidate munitions to intercept and destroy highly maneuvering surface targets at close ranges and from different directions.

Two experimental investigations have demonstrated the extreme usefulness of using wire strain gages in studying the mechanical behavior of composites. Wire strain gages have also shown their capacity in detecting some splitting failure types in notched composites under tensile loads. The first investigation entailed notched [07 8 unidirectional graphite/epoxy composites. An arrangement of wire strain gages around the notch boundary has easily detected the onset ofsplitting damage in the specimen. Splitting damage is through-the-thickness matrix cracks emanating from the notch tips and propagating along the filament direction. The second investigation entailed notched [0/145°Js graphite/epoxy laminates. Splitting damage in both the 0° and 45° plies have been identified using a modified gage arrangement.