Modelling the impact testing of prescription lenses.
Lenses are tested in an impact test in which a steel ball is dropped from a height onto the centre of the lens. This causes the lens to deform until the stress in the lens reaches a point at which fracture occurs. A survey of the literature was carried out and analytical models of the load/deflection and of the deflection/stress relationships were selected. A mathematical model of the impact test on lenses was developed. This model consisted of calculating the load-deflection relationship of a lens loaded at a central point, combined with calculating the deflection at which fracture occurred. From this model the impact energy required to deform a lens to fracture was obtained. This was held to be equal to the minimum kinetic energy of an impactor, less losses, that would be needed to cause lens fracture. As the losses are small, the calculated energy was used as an estimate of the impact strength of the lens. These values were then compared to those established by experiment. The impact energies predicted by the model were a close approximation of the experimental results for the lenses tested.
McAuliffe
P J
PJ
Dept. of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, The University of Queensland Queensland, 4072 Australia.
Truss
R W
RW
Pittolo
M
M