Towards Building Simulation Tools for Next Generation Soft Body Armour Testing Standards

Published

September 18, 2016

Author(s)

Steven P. Mates, Amanda L. Forster, Michael A. Riley, Kirk D. Rice, Juliana Ivancik

Abstract

Accurate simulation tools for soft body armour testing would vastly improve test designer's ability to optimize and refine standards by supplying quantitative information about the influence of test variables on test outcomes. Such tools would also facilitate the development of future armour testing standards that will leverage the improved understanding of impact injury mechanics by providing more meaningful comparisons between actual human injury conditions and ballistic testing conditions. These potential benefits are real and well recognized. So too is the difficulty of developing such tools, which involve materials systems ranging from the metal projectile to the woven polymer composite armour to the synthetic clay body surrogate. However, the emergence of the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) experimental method has greatly enhanced our ability to understand dynamic material behavior, making this difficult problem more tractable. This paper outlines our current vision for developing finite element simulation tools for soft body armour testing, including the kinds of measurement data and validation techniques being used, and describes preliminary simulation results of idealized ballistic impacts.

Proceedings Title

Personal Armor Systems Symposium 2016

Conference Dates

September 19-23, 2016

Conference Location

Amsterdam, NL

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Soft body armor standards, Kolsky Bar, Finite Element Modeling, Digital Image Correlation

Citation

Mates, S. , Forster, A. , Riley, M. , Rice, K. and Ivancik, J. (2016), Towards Building Simulation Tools for Next Generation Soft Body Armour Testing Standards, Personal Armor Systems Symposium 2016, Amsterdam, NL, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=920413 (Accessed October 9, 2024)