Evaluation of ballistic performance of bi-layered ceramic armor using numerical simulations

Ceramic materials are commonly used in lightweight armor modules for ballistic vehicle protection. Strict requirements for multi-hit performance of such armor have led to the use of segmented ceramic elements such as spheres, cylinders, hexagons etc. Armor modules comprising one layer of ceramic cylinders have been in use for years by Plasan Ltd. In order to defeat 7.62×51 AP8 rounds with hard tungsten carbide (WC) cores more effectively without compromising the multi-hit capability, a concept of bi-layered cylinder ceramic armor has been proposed and patented by Plasan Ltd. In this study we present an analysis of the bi-layered armor concept which involved both numerical simulations and ballistic testing. Numerical simulations were performed using a 3-D Lagrangian solver of LSDYNA commercial software. The numerical simulations of bi-layered ceramic armor included the evaluation of areas of weakness, comparative simulations of equivalent singlelayer ceramic modules, and the estimation of the performance of Alumina-based and SiCbased modules. In addition, the effect of the gap between the ceramic module and the basic armor, typically comprised of steel armor with a composite liner, was investigated. Selected armor modules were subsequently tested in ballistic trials. Generally good agreement was obtained between experimental and numerical results.