Container Roll-In /Out Platform (CROP) Ammunition Restraint Enhancements for Effective Transport – OU03-DAC2

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Container Roll-In /Out Platform (CROP) Ammunition Restraint Enhancements for Effective Transport – OU03-DAC2

This project investigates different materials for product restraints and designs and analyses a new system of pallets and an alternative for stabilizing loads from shifting during transport

Sponsor:

U.S. Army Defense Ammunition Center

Research Team:

Cengiz Altan, John Michael Byers, Brad S. Williams

Universities Involved:

University of Oklahoma

Start Date:

NA

End Date:

NA

Summary:

This project:
* Develops viable concepts of innovative ammunition (including missiles) restraint enhancements and reductions for single item and strategic configured loads (SCLs) on CROP.
* Assesses different materials suitable for ammunition restraints such as lightweight metals, alloys, plastics, and polymeric composites.
* Makes a comparative analysis of these materials with respect to currently used wood restraints in terms of properties, price, and ease of manufacturing.
* Assessment of optimum reusability, reduction of battle-field clutter and reverse application towards ensuring troop-friendliness.
* Designs and analyze a possible new system for the pallets on the CROP platform.
* Designs an alternative way to prepare dunnage to stabilize the load from shifting during transport.

For many years primarily wood has been used for packaging and shipping ammunition. In fact, wooden pallets are the second largest consumer of forest products making up about 17%. A popular method of dunnage is the use of 2×6 wood boards. Wooden frames are built from wood planks to support wooden pallets during ammunition transport. The wooden restrains as well as pallets are mostly used once for a particular ammunition configuration. A major problem with using wood dunnage is that it is not versatile. Many shipments require that the restraining system be geometrically complex. This poses a problem in that it requires considerable labor, an on-site wood shop and specialized expertise in order to resolve possible design issues.
Another rising concern of using wood pallets and dunnage to ship ammunition during deployment is the disposal of the wood once it reaches it final destination. For the most part, the wood is left where it was unloaded, thus causing battle-field clutter.
The scope of this project included several different areas that focused around developing design concepts for a reusable system of shipping ammunition around the world. The focal point included developing design concepts for restraint enhancements to substitute the straps as well as the wood blocks (dunnage) used for restraining the pallets on the CROP platform. Another key point in this project was to find a possible substitute for the wood pallets that could be reused. This material would have to be light and the method of assembly and disassembly would be user friendly.
The purpose of this report is to show the methods and materials used to minimize the amount of wood on each shipment. The content of this report can be divided in four main parts:

* The review of the surveyed packaging and shipping products,
* The conceptual designs for the two CROP restraint modules,
* The conceptual design of a modular pallet system,
* Review of materials and their relevant properties that would be used in the fabrication of CROP restraint modules as well as the modular pallet system.

* A lightweight material is required with the desired mechanical performance that matched or exceeded that of wood.
* The major advantage of wood is that its mechanical properties are sufficient enough to do the required task at a minimum amount of cost.
* The criterion that needs to be achieved in this application is a light weight, durable material that can withstand high load concentrations and adverse environmental effects.
* A polymeric composite material might be the best approach for this application.