Bio-inspired Armor Protective Material Systems for Ballistic Shock Mitigation

Abstract

Severe transient ballistic shocks from projectile impacts, mine blasts, or overhead artillery attacks can incapacitate an occupant at low frequencies, or sensitive equipment at high frequencies, if they are not properly attenuated by armor protective systems. Unique challenges exist in developing armor protective systems for mitigating both low and high frequency ballistic shocks due to the lack of robust design methodology, the severe dynamic loading conditions, and the uncertainties in predicting ballistic shock responses. Nature offers engineers a blueprint of highly effective, efficient, and adaptive material designs to protect certain regions from external threats. This paper presents the modeling, analysis, design, optimization fabrication, and experimental validation of bone-inspired armor protective material systems for reducing projectile penetrations and alleviating ballistic shocks at both low and high frequencies. The optimized bone-inspired armor protective material system has a soft-stiff-soft-stiff material distribution pattern based on bone-foramen and osteonal-bone material systems. Analysis and experimental results demonstrated that the bone-inspired armor protective material systems have excellent capabilities for drastic ballistic shock mitigation, weight savings, and significant reductions in penetration and load transmission under ballistic loading conditions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA543984

Entities

People

  • Helen Durden
  • Jinhua Huang
  • Mostafiz Chowdhury

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Vehicles
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication
  • Far Field
  • Frequency
  • Gas Guns
  • High Density
  • Materials
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Near Field
  • Optimization
  • Projectiles
  • Resonant Frequency
  • Shock Mitigation
  • Shock Response Spectra
  • Spectra
  • Validation

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design