Through ORISE, Participant Identifies Future Areas of Research

by Julie L. Erwin

Composite: material made from two or more distinct materials that when combined is better than each would be separately

The definition of a composite can also describe the relationship among Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and Bryan Cheeseman.

  Cheeseman, an ORISE research participant in ARL’s Composite and Lightweight Structures Branch (CLSB), works directly with composite structural armor and personnel armor at the University of Delaware’s Center for Composite Materials. After receiving his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware, Cheeseman was advised by his mentor, Dr. Travis Bogetti, to apply to the program in June 2000. He said his time spent at ARL so met his expectations that he decided to renew his appointment a year later.


While working in the CLSB of the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate at ARL, Cheeseman has studied composite structural armor and personnel armor. He explains that both types of systems consist of several different material layers, making it very difficult to study analytically. Therefore, computational schemes such as finite element analysis (FEA)—which allow the modeling of complex dynamic events, such as automobile crashes and ballistic impact—are being used to investigate the armor systems. 

“This method of analysis is intuitive in the sense that you ‘draw’ the armor in the computer program, like a computer-aided graphing system,” he continued, “then you define how it is loaded and constrained and what types the materials the layers are.” The FEA then gives an approximate solution, but the accuracy of the answer depends on number of things, including how the material behavior is modeled. Specifically, Cheeseman has been involved with implementing models of how particular materials behave into an explicit finite element analysis code.

Cheeseman said participation in the ORISE program has allowed him to continue learning and acquiring new skills. “Having had several years’ experience with static finite element analysis, working with explicit codes to model dynamic events has really opened my eyes to the power, and limitations, of that type of analysis,” he concluded. “Working with these codes has been beneficial, not just in a marketability sense, but in identifying future areas of research.”

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