High-velocity impact failure modeling of Armox 500T steel: Model validation and application to structural design

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As an advanced fracture model, the Generalized Incremental Stress State dependent damage MOdel (GISSMO) provides non-linear damage accumulation formulation to better predict ductile fracture initiation associated with a wider range of material stress states. In this study, we simulate the high-velocity impact failure of Armox 500T steel through computational finite element modeling in the LS-DYNA/Explicit solver. Here, the GISSMO is used to describe the ballistic responses of the Armox 500T steel under dynamic impacts. Two sets of the most important parameters in the GISSMO (i.e., the fracture and instability surfaces) are determined for the Armox 500T steel. The GISSMO is calibrated in terms of the fade exponent and mesh regularization functions using the force–displacement curve of tensile tests extracted from the literature. The calibrated GISSMO is then scaled with the strain rate and validated by comparing quantitative measurements from ballistic experiments provided in the literature. Once validated, the model is then used to investigate the impact failure behaviors of Armox 500T steel by simulating bi-layer configurations consisting of an Armox 500T steel front plate and a rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) steel backing plate impact from a 20 mm fragment simulating projectile. The roles of the standoff distance and impact angle of obliquity on impact failure behaviors of bi-layered steel systems are explored. Altogether, results from this study provide new capabilities and insights into the design of armor structures with respect to lightweight and ballistic performance, and evaluation of impact failure behaviors of Armox 500T/RHA bi-layered systems.