Blast response of continuous-density graded cellular material based on the 3D Voronoi model

One-dimensional blast response of continuous-density graded cellular rods was investigated theoretically and numerically. Analytical model based on the rigid-plastic hardening(R-PH) model was used to predict the blast response of density-graded cellular rods. Finite element(FE) analysis was performed using a new model based on the 3 D Voronoi technique. The FE results have a good agreement with the analytical predictions. The blast response and energy absorption of cellular rods with the same mass but different density distributions were examined under different blast loading. As a blast resistance structure, cellular materials with high energy absorption and low impulse transmit is attractive. However, high energy absorption and low impulse transmit cannot be achieved at the same time by changing the density distribution. The energy absorption capacity increases with the initial blast pressure and characteristic time of the exponentially decaying blast loading. By contract, when the blast loading exceeds the resistance capacity of cellular material, the transmitted stress will be enhanced which is detrimental to the structure being protected.

Experimental study on ceramic balls impact composite armor

Ceramic balls represent a new type of damaging element,and studies on their damaging power of composite armor are required for a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of various types of weapons.The goal of this study was to determine the impact ofφ7 mm toughened Al2 O3 ceramic balls on a composite ceramic/metal armor.The influences of the ceramic panel and the thickness of the metal backing material on the destroying power of the ceramic balls were first determined.Based on the agreement between numerical simulation,experimental results,and calculation models of the target plate resistance,the response mechanism of the ceramic balls was further analyzed.The results indicate that for a back plate of Q235 steel,with an increasing thickness of the ceramic panel,the piercing speed limit of the ceramic balls gradually increases and the diameter of the out-going hole on the metal back decreases.Different conditions were tested to assess the effects on the piercing speed,the diameter of the out-going hole,the micro-element stress,and the integrity of the recovered ceramic bowl.

The fragmentation of D-shaped casing filled with explosive under eccentric initiation

With the technical development of new warhead designs and improvised explosive device protection,irregular casing filled with explosive has been paid more attention recently. In this paper, we studied the fragmentation of a type of D-shaped casing, which is a common asymmetric casing in the field of warhead design. Based on the radiograph technique, static explosive experiments were conducted with D-shaped casings under four different eccentric initiation ratios to explore their fragmentation. A numerical model was then established to simulate the dynamic response of D-shaped casing filled with explosive. The results of numerical simulation were found to agree well with the experimental data.According to the results of numerical simulation and experimental data, the dynamic responses of Dshaped casing were analyzed. The results of the current work pave way for the innovative design of new warhead and for further studying the dynamic response of asymmetric casing.

Optimal design of a novel cylindrical sandwich panel with double arrow auxetic core under air blast loading

The increasing threat of explosions on the battle field and the terrorist action requires the development of more effective blast resistance materials and structures.Curved structure can support the external loads effectively by virtue of their spatial curvature.In review of the excellent energy absorption property of auxetic structure,employing auxetic structure as core material in curved sandwich shows the potential to improve the protection performance.In this study,a novel cylindrical sandwich panel with double arrow auxetic(DAA) core was designed and the numerical model was built by ABAQUS.Due to the complexity of the structure,systematic parameter study and optimal design are conducted.Two cases of optimal design were considered,case1 focuses on reducing the deflection and mass of the structure,while case2 focuses on reducing the deflection and increasing the energy absorption per unit mass.Parameter study and optimal design were conducted based on Latin Hypercube Sampling(LHD)method,artificial neural networks(ANN) metamodel and the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm(NSGA-Ⅱ).The Pareto front was obtained and the cylindrical DAA structure performed much better than its equal solid panel in both blast resistance and energy absorption capacity.Optimization results can be used as a reference for different applications.

Firm embedding behavior of annular grooved projectiles impacting ductile metal targets

Annular grooved projectiles(AGPs)have drawn ongoing concerns as an advanced penetrator for their excellent anti-rebound capability in impacting metal plates.They could become embedded solidly in the target surface during low-velocity impact.In this investigation,the firm embedding behavior of AGP was observed by impact experiments.Corresponding numerical simulations provided a better understanding of this process.Experimental and numerical results indicated that the firm embedding behavior of AGP was mainly due to the filling-material in the groove rather than the friction between the projectile and target,unlike traditional shape such as conical projectile.According to observation,firm embedding process can generally be subdivided into four stages:initial-cratering stage,groove-filling stage,fillingmaterial failure stage and rebound vibration stage.Moreover,the damage mechanics of target material around crater was obtained through microscopic tests.A comparison of the cross-sectional figures between the experiment and simulation proved that the analysis and the proposed method were reasonable and feasible,which further demonstrated that the firm embedding behavior has application potential in new concept warheads.

Partial penetration of annular grooved projectiles impacting ductile metal targets

Changing and optimizing the projectile nose shape is an important way to achieve specific ballistic performance.One special ballistic performance is the embedding effect,which can achieve a delayed high-explosive reaction on the target surface.This embedding effect includes a rebound phase that is significantly different from the traditional penetration process.To better study embedment behavior,this study proposed a novel nose shape called an annular grooved projectile and defined its interaction process with the ductile metal plate as partial penetration.Specifically,we conducted a series of lowvelocity-ballistic tests in which these steel projectiles were used to strike 16-mm-thick target plates made with 2024-O aluminum alloy.We observed the dynamic evolution characteristics of this aluminum alloy near the impact craters and analyzed these characteristics by corresponding cross-sectional views and numerical simulations.The results indicated that the penetration resistance had a brief decrease that was influenced by its groove structure,but then it increased significantlydthat is,the fluctuation of penetration resistance was affected by the irregular nose shape.Moreover,we visualized the distribution of the material in the groove and its inflow process through the rheology lines in microscopic tests and the highlighted mesh lines in simulations.The combination of these phenomena revealed the embedment mechanism of the annular grooved projectile and optimized the design of the groove shape to achieve a more firm embedment performance.The embedment was achieved primarily by the target material filled in the groove structure.Therefore,preventing the shear failure that occurred on the filling material was key to achieving this embedding effect.