Investigation of Penetration Behavior of Combined Geometry Shells at Quasi-Static and Intermediate Strain Rates: an Experimental and Numerical Study

Abstract

In this study, the penetration/perforation behavior of a core material with previously determined static and dynamic crushing characteristics was investigated both experimentally and numerically. Penetration/perforation problems occur due to shrapnel effect when sandwich structures containing energy-absorbing core materials by crushing are exposed to blast loads. The penetration behavior of combined geometry shells consisting of a hemispherical cap and a cylindrical segment was investigated experimentally using blunt, conical and hemispherical penetrator tips. The quasi-static penetration tests were performed in a universal test machine, and the intermediate strain rate penetration tests were performed in a drop weight test device. The numerical models of penetration tests were implemented in LS-DYNA at the test strain rates as well as at the higher strain rates. Results showed that different penetrator geometries induced damage forms of symmetrical tearing, petaling, plugging and inversely formed hemispherical domed cone. The increase in the thickness of core geometry resulted in a decent increase in force–displacement curves, as average of force levels increased around 140%, 200% and 220% for blunt, conical and hemispherical tip penetrators, respectively. Numerical results indicated very good correlation with experimental work and enabled to investigate effect of strain rate and micro-inertia over numerical models at elevated penetrator velocities. Penetration behavior was found to be affected from micro-inertia effects up to a threshold displacement of 4 mm for thicker and 5 mm for thinner core units and strain rate effects were found to be dominant beyond that point.