Paper number 447

RESPONSE OF INTEGRAL ARMOR UNDER HIGH VELOCITY IMPACT AN EXPERIMENTAL AND FINITE ELEMENT STUDY

Hassan Mahfuz, Yuehui Zhu, Anwarul Haque, Uday Vaidya and Shaik Jeelani

Tuskegee University's Center for Advanced Materials (T-CAM)
Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama 36077

Summary Finite element analysis using LS-DYNA3D has been performed to investigate the response of an integral armor under high velocity impact. The analysis is based on actual experiments conducted in a gas gun set up. A 3-D model consisting of the various discrete layers of the armor has been developed and subjected to transient dynamic loading. The geometry and boundary conditions are all pertinent to the experiment. The projectile is blunt ended and is made from a hardened 4340 steel rod. The integral armor is a 300 mm x 300 mm x 46mm plate with multi-component layers of AD-90 ceramic, EPDM rubber, S2-glass/Vinyl ester and phenolic composites. V50 velocity for a fragment simulated projectile (FSP) has been considered, and the corresponding responses have been investigated to assess the failure of the armor at the ballistic limit. The analyses also provided information regarding the extent of the damage zone in the neighborhood of the bullet. The correlation with the experimentally observed damage zone was in good agreement with the FE analysis. Stress distributions through the thickness has been determined and the maximum value was found to occur at the ceramic layer. From the delamination point of view the two interfaces across the rubber layer were found to be most critical. Interlaminar tensile and shear stress distributions have also been examined, and their contributions to the failure of the armor are discussed.
Keywords composite structures, impact, Finite Element Method (FEM).

Theme : Mechanical and Physical Properties ; Dynamic, Impact and crashworthiness

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