Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 227, 3–16 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2018-00116-7

Regular Article

Dynamic compaction of polyurethane foam: experiments and modelling

¹ CEA CESTA, 15 avenue des Sablières CS60001, 33116 Le Barp Cedex, France
² Institut Pprime UPR 3346 CNRS-Université de Poitiers-ENSMA, 11 boulevard Marie et Pierre Curie, 86962 Futuroscope Chasseneuil Cedex, France
³ CEA LR, BP 16, 37260 Monts, France
⁴ CEA GRAMAT, BP 80200, 46500 Gramat, France

^a e-mail: pierre.pradel@cea.fr

Received: 6 November 2017
Received in final form: 16 February 2018
Published online: 10 September 2018

Abstract

The framework of this paper is to investigate the mitigation ability of an expanded rigid polyurethane foam against extremely fast (>10⁶ s⁻¹) and intense ( >10 GPa) dynamic loadings. Cyclic quasi-static tests and dynamic experiments (gas gun and low inductance generator) have been performed to investigate the foam behaviour for strain rates ranging from 10⁻³ to 10⁵ s⁻¹. Analysis of the experimental results shows that the foam has an elastic behaviour phase followed by a compaction phase with significant permanent sets. Compaction threshold is about 8 MPa under quasi-static loading, and 21 MPa for strain rates above 10⁴ s⁻¹. A porous compaction model is used to represent the macroscopic behaviour of the foam for the whole range of strain rates. The parameters are identified from dynamic experimental results. The model is validated by comparing calculated velocity profiles with an explicit hydrocode and velocity profiles measured during the experiments.