IMPACT SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS OF A GLASS CERAMIC SPHERICAL DOME

The dome port cover of a ramjet engine is used to seal off the ram air inlet during booster operation. When the ramjet engine undergoes the transition leading to ramjet operation phase, the port cover is fragmented by the ram pressure. Lately, the dome port cover has been made using a MACOR glass-filled ceramic that has high heat resistance and high compression strength, as well as low density. In this study, fracture simulations of a ceramic dome under shock pressure were performed through the finite element method, using the nonlinear code LS-DYNA. The material properties of the simulations were applied to the experimental results of a tensile test for the MACOR glass-filled ceramic. The simulation was carried out on the spherical dome model using various impact pulses. The fracture strength and fracture behavior mode were compared for each case. The type-A spherical dome fractured earlier than the other kinds of domes.