This is from my first project at
TBE/NASA. I used some of my real-time modeling skills to make the CAD models look more realistic. The test article, lit so brightly that it looks like a warp engine, was a scale version of a rocket skin, and built with greatest care. Then, we squeezed it until it buckled with a wonderful boom, all in the name of science. They got some very good data from it. Here's an
article about it. I call it the "Can Crusher".
They have buckled a second and third article, with plans to do more. We may also build another one of these, twice the size, without the brown towers.
My poster, rendered from my Pro/E model.
The actual article, built from my prints, all ready for the first test.
They were so pleased with this "small" version that they went on to make a full-scale crusher! It just got written up in Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-02/upcoming-million-pound-can-crushing-test-will-help-nasa-design-lighter-rockets
ReplyDeleteI was initially assigned to this project also, but got shifted off to other things. However, I was the first to call it a "can crusher" lol.