Abstract:
Objectives In order to quickly evaluate the ballistic performance of UHMWPE composite sandwich structures, a theoretical analysis model of its resistance to high-speed cylindrical projectile penetration was established.
Methods Firstly, the penetration resistance process of the sandwich structrue was divided into 3 stages, the energy dissipation problem in each stage was analyzed, and a theoretical analysis model was proposed which ignores the upsetting of the cylindrical projectile and considers the upsetting of the cylindrical projectile, the equations between dissipative energy and residual velocities of each stage were built. Then, the numerical model of resistance to cylindrical projectile of UHMWPE composite sandwich structure was established by using the finite element software ANSYS/AUTODYN, the ballistic limits were obtained by calculating the residual velocities of projectiles and using the fitting method. Finally, the results of theoretical analysis model and numerical model were compared.
Results Based on the results of numerical model, the ballistic limit errors of both theoretical analysis models that neglect and consider the upsetting of projectiles are less than 22%. The ballistic limit of theoretical analysis model taking projectile upsetting into account has higher calculation precision when the maximum errors, mean errors and correlation coefficients are considered together.
Conclusions The theoretical analysis model can be well applied to calculate ballistic limits of UHMWPE composite sandwich structures against the cylindrical projectiles impact and provide a reference for the penetration resistance calculation of other fibre composite sandwich structure.