Numeric Simulation of the Penetration of 7.62 mm Armour Piercing Projectile into Ceramic/Composite Armour

Abstract

A numerical study has been carried out to design armour system which consists of 99.5 % alumina ceramic tiles backed by plain weave S2-glass/epoxy laminated composite plates when subjected to high velocity impact of a 7.62 mm armour piercing (AP) projectile. The explicit three-dimensional finite element code LS-DYNA was used in the analysis of the problem. A plastic-kinematic hardening model; MAT-03, the Johnson-Holmquist-Ceramic model; MAT-110 and newly developed composite damage model namely MAT-162 implemented in LS-DYNA were used in order to simulate behaviours of projectile, ceramic and composite layers respectively in the numerical model. Three configurations with different composite backing plate thicknesses were considered in the numerical analyses in order to defeat a 7.62 mm AP projectile. Numerical results showed that among the investigated armour panels the best multi-hit ballistic performance was attained with configuration 3 which maintained ballistic protection with a minimal damage to the composite backing and much smaller back face signature.