Application of dimensional analysis in the study of impact behaviour on tank truck structures

Abstract

Nowadays, the analyses of impact of metallic structural elements of big dimensions are very expensive and dangerous due to the fact that the tests are destructive in nature and involve impact forces of the order of Meganewtons. That is the reason why searching for new alternatives that make these analyses easier and cheaper and that ensure the safety for those carrying the tests is necessary. No significative differences in the stress and strain of impact results were observed in a small scale from those obtained at full scale, if the laws for modeling of dimensional analysis are observed, in fact result differences were around 1%. We concluded that dimensional analysis can be applied when studying impacts of tank trucks because it made the analysis easier by reducing the number of factors to be considered and at the same time produced satisfactory results using scaling prototypes.