Ballistic impact simulation of an armour-piercing projectile on hybrid ceramic/fiber reinforced composite armours

• Published in: International journal of impact engineering 2012-05, Vol.43, p.63-77
• Main Authors: Bürger, Daniel, Rocha de Faria, Alfredo, de Almeida, Sérgio F.M., de Melo, Francisco C.L., Donadon, Maurício V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Armour; Ballistic impact; Constitutive models; Exact sciences and technology; Finite elements; Fracture mechanics (crack, fatigue, damage...); Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Inelasticity (thermoplasticity, viscoplasticity...); Physics; Solid mechanics; Structural and continuum mechanics
• ISSN: 0734-743X; 1879-3509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2011.12.001

This paper presents a ballistic impact simulation of an armour-piercing projectile in hybrid ceramic/fiber reinforced composite armour. The armour is composed by an alumina plate and an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene composite. In order to model the armour behavior three different constitutive models were formulated and implemented into ABAQUS/Explicit finite element code. Comparisons between numerical predictions and experimental results in terms of damage shape/extent and V50 are also presented and discussed in the paper. ► We modelled a hybrid ceramic/composite armour with FEM. ▶ JH-2 model is successfully implemented into ABAQUS FE CODE. ▶ The adhesive model predicts correctly the response to the impact. ▶ The composite failure model predicts accurately the energy absorption.