SBIR-STTR Award

Understanding the interaction between munition and target is necessary for the optimization of the performance of both the target and the penetrator. Commercially available technoUnderstanding the interaction between munition and target is necessary for the optimization of the performance of both the target and the penetrator. Commercially available technology for the numerical simulation of ballistic penetration and shaped charges falls short of being able to reliably simulate damage to armors, runways, surface and buried concrete bunkers and other hardened underground targets. Our Lagrangian finite element based approach, with continuous adaptive remeshing, gives us the possibility of accurately simulating problems involving large deformations and fragmentation. Thermomechancial coupled models of models of brittle and ductile materials, cohesive material interfaces for layered material and contact algorithms able to solve complex multi-body contact situations, e.g. in fragmentation, are key pieced in our simulation package for impact penetration. logy for the numerical simulation of ballistic penetration and shaped charges falls short of being able to reliably simulate damage to armors, runways, surface and buried concrete bunkers and other hardened underground targets. Our Lagrangian finite element based approach, with continuous adaptive remeshing, gives us the possibility of accurately simulating problems involving large deformations and fragmentation. Thermomechancial coupled models of models of brittle and ductile materials, cohesive material interfaces for layered material and contact algorithms able to solve complex multi-body contact situations, e.g. in fragmentation, are key pieced in our simulation package for impact penetration.

Benefits:
A two and three dimensional simulation package able to predict the behavior of shaped charges and penetrators when interacting with different targets is of great interest in the mining and oil industries. Many of the modules developed for this application will be used in other simulation packages giving us a great tool for simulating industrial processes (drilling, machinery).

The project is concerned with the development of an advanced three-dimensional simulation facility for the analysis of air-delivered non-nuclear munitions and their effect on hard targets. The simulations will take into account complex material behavior, contact and friction, thermomechanical coupling, fracture and fragmentation, and strain localization. The facility will implement state-of-the-art techniques in computational mechanics, solid modeling, adaptive meshing, and will incorporate multiscale-multiphysics computational capability enabling the predictive simulation and optimal design of explosive self-forging projectiles, long-rod penetrators and other munitions. The facility will greatly improve the U.S. Air Force's ability to predict damage to armor and hard targets, and will provide a versatile framework for science-based design of the new generation of impact-resistant survivable structures. The modular nature of the various software components of the proposed facility will greatly facilitate their use in new commercial simulation product, thus cutting down turnaround times, development costs, and easing the transition to Phase III.

Benefits:
There is exceptional opportunity for the commercial application of the facility. The mechanics of munition/target interaction are similar to the mechanics of many industrial and manufacturing processes such as punching, riveting, shot peening, stamping, deep drawing, drilling and high-speed machining. Thus the technology which informs the proposed facility has a clear dual use in a number of commercial applications in the industrial arena.