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Real-time Measurement of Projectile Velocity in a Ballistic Fabric with a High-frequency Doppler Radar

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Abstract

Background

Because of technical limitations, most experimental studies on the energy-absorbing properties of ballistic fabrics are limited to discrete evaluations based on impact and residual velocities. Consequently, the continuous interaction between a projectile and a target material is still commonly assessed with analytical models or numerical simulations, the validation of which is based on the aforementioned discrete values.

Objective

The present document aims at describing and validating a new experimental method to make it possible to evaluate the continuous evolution of the projectile velocity during penetration into a fabric material. The method is based on the Doppler effect and a specific and complex nonstationary signal treatment.

Methods

A high-frequency continuous-wave Doppler radar was adapted to assess the continuous evolution of the velocity of a projectile penetrating a fabric material. Based on two ballistic-grade fabric configurations, a perforating and a nonperforating case were described and evaluated. The instantaneous Doppler frequency was extracted based on the Hilbert-Huang transform. A validation of the proposed method was performed based on high-speed camera images, giving the displacement of the apex of the deformation pyramid of the fabric with time. Additionally, a Weibel® Doppler radar was used to measure the impact velocity.

Results

Based on instantaneous frequencies deduced from the high-frequency radar signal analysis, Doppler theory and high-speed camera images, velocity–time and displacement–time plots were obtained. Additionally, the evolution of the fabric deformation (pyramid morphology) was recorded from the high-speed camera images.

Conclusions

Comparisons between the data assessed with the high-frequency Doppler radar and those deduced from the high-speed camera indicated that good agreement exists between the two methods. The new Doppler radar method seems to be a promising complementary tool for measuring the continuous interaction between a projectile and a fabric target material.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted with the assistance of the Royal Military Academy’s Dynamic Material Behaviour and Security Applications research pole, which provided valuable support for the numerical work carried out in the framework of the aforementioned study. Additionally, we offer a sincere thank you to Mr. Messaoud CHAYANI from Lille University Graduate School of Engineers for his diligent proofreading of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Military Academy (RMA), 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    L. Gilson, L. Rabet, J. Van Roey & J. Gallant

  2. Univ. Lille, ULR 7512 - Unité de Mécanique de Lille, Joseph Boussinesq, (UML), 59000, Lille, France

    L. Gilson & A. Imad

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  1. L. Gilson
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  2. A. Imad
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Correspondence to A. Imad.

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Gilson, L., Imad, A., Rabet, L. et al. Real-time Measurement of Projectile Velocity in a Ballistic Fabric with a High-frequency Doppler Radar. Exp Mech 61, 533–547 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-020-00676-4

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