Studying Normal and Oblique Perforation of Steel Plates with SPH Simulations

Abstract

Axisymmetric and three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) models are developed to simulate normal and oblique perforation of 12 mm-thick Weldox 460 E steel plates. In the models, a particle-to-particle contact algorithm including friction effect is employed to model interactions between projectile and target plate. A constitutive model coupling viscoplasticity and ductile damage is implemented to describe material behaviors of target plate. Both axisymmetric and three-dimensional SPH models are validated by existing experimental results. By using axisymmetric models, effects of projectile structure on normal perforation are systematically studied. Two factors of projectile structure, nose shape and aspect ratio, are considered. Residual velocities, ballistic limits and failure modes are obtained for different projectile nose shapes and aspect ratios. Effects of nose shape and aspect ratio on ballistic limits predicted by SPH simulations are compared with those obtained by an analytical equation. By using three-dimensional models, oblique perforation is simulated. Effects of oblique angle on impact processes are analyzed. Intervals of critical oblique angle of ricochet are obtained for different impact velocities and caliber-radius-head values of ogival projectile. The results obtained in this work can provide reference for the design of protective structures with steels and similar materials. The SPH with contact algorithm including friction effect is proved to be a very effective method for ballistic impact simulation.

Ballistic Impact Simulation of Proposed Bullet Proof Vest Made of TWIP Steel, Water and Polymer Sandwich Composite Using FE-SPH Coupled Technique

“…Most of the studies have been based on the use of finite element method (FEM), whiles Nair and Rao [23] used 1-D and 2-D discrete element method (DEM). Studies modelling the solid continuum with SPH [24,25] have also found good agreement of results with experimental data.…”

A new total‐Lagrangian smooth particle hydrodynamics approximation for the simulation of damage and fracture of ductile materials

“…Recent extensions now allow SPH to be used to simulate solid mechanics problems . The natural abilities of SPH to simulate problems involving large deformations make it gain popularity in the modeling of solids in the fields of machining, wear, and resistance to impacts . Indeed, for the simulation of these kinds of problems, true meshfree particle methods, such as SPH, have the advantage over mesh‐based methods such as finite‐element method (FEM) of not requiring a mesh, thus avoiding potentially problematic remeshing when large distortions occur.…”

“…This makes TLSPH attractive for the simulation of solids experiencing large deformations coupled with damage. Indeed, TLSPH is being increasingly used to simulate the mechanical response of a ductile material to scratches, impacts, or machining …”

A damage and failure implementation for the simulation of ductile solids with Total-Lagrangian Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics

“…Due to its abilities to simulate problems involving large deformations, SPH is gaining popularity for the study of the deformations of solids in the fields of machining [3,4], wear [5,6,7], and resistance to impacts [8,9,10,11]. Such popularity has also been fueled by its recent implementation in the opensource particle code LAMMPS [12].…”

“…By recalculating the particles' neighbour lists after a few timesteps, they have relied on numerical failure, more specifically the loss of connectivity between neighbouring particles as their distance increase, to account for damage. This so-called "natural ability" for SPH to account for damage has also been used by other researchers [3,7,9,10,11]. However, this is unsatisfactory when it comes to predict the mechanical response of ductile materials experiencing damage.…”