Australia's Shock Testing Capability

Australia's involvement in shock testing to evaluate the structural response of Naval vessels and ships' equipment to transient dynamic loads began in late 1970. It commenced with gaining the necessary understanding of underwater blast phenomena and culminated in the successful shock testing of an Australian designed and constructed, glass reinforced plastic (GRP), mine hunter. Since then we have maintained an active role in conducting full scale shock trials to evaluate the vulnerability of vessels and equipment supporting mine counter-measure operations. We also conduct smaller scale trials to support the submarine construction program and the various research tasks undertaken by DSTO. This paper presents an overview of the shock trials conducted to date, together with a brief description of facilities available and considerations which needed to be addressed when conducting such tests in shallow water.