Numerical Investigation on Ballistic Limit Velocity of Armour Materials

Abstract

The Threats to public security and premises security are on the rise because of increasing terrorism and violence. Safety of individual is a matter of concern, hence there is need to develop bullet resistant solutions for soldiers, tanks, and other military vehicles. This case study is concerned with designing the plates which are made up of different materials and structures and finding the ballistic limit velocity (BLV) by analyzing and comparing them. In this work, the ballistic limit velocity of Al 7075-T6, Al 5083H116, Titanium, Kevlar 149 materials were investigated numerically. Initially single layer plates made of Al 5083H116, Al 7075-T6 and Titanium were analyzed individually and it was found that Titanium plate yielded better ballistic limit velocity value than the other two materials. The numerical work was further extended with sandwich structures with / without honeycomb core. Al 7075-T6 material was considered for the front and rear face of the sandwich armour. And for the core portion Kevlar 149 (without honeycomb) and Al 7075-T6 (with honeycomb) were considered. Commercial software Ansys-workbench was used through the analysis. The result of the case study indicated that Al 7075-T6 with honeycomb structure yields greater ballistic limit velocity and it has 22.58% more BLV value than the solid single layer Al 7075-T6.