Armoured fighting vehicles such as Main Battle Tank (MBT) operate in a variety of theatres right starting from desert, marshes to high altitude areas. To deploy and operate such platforms, strategic, tactical and battlefield mobility have to be higher, for which combat mass of the platform is a critical parameter. To keep this parameter within optimum limits, overall mass reduction of the platform is crucial, which is also challenging as the structure has to offer not only strength and rigidity but also ballistic protection. This challenge is further complicated if the panel or component is exposed to high temperature.
This paper tries to address these design challenges through a case study, wherein a composite cover plate made of Ceramic tiles, Kevlar, Foam with stainless steel sheets as backings in a sandwich construction is presented. The complete design and iteration methodology is first explained in detail along with constraints. Subsequently, the modelling process and creation of lay and stackup is presented along with mesh creation and validation. This is then followed by a static structural, modal, random vibration, shock response spectrum, thermal and explicit dynamic analysis. Although, all the above FE results are presented, only the final results are discussed and the complete iteration process stepwise for each analysis is neglected. Finally, it is observed that by careful selection of materials, configuration, layup and stackup, it is possible to design a cover plate to withstand severe loading conditions and achieve a mass saving of approximately 35-40%. This FE study was generated, executed and post-processed using ANSYS Workbench software with ACP-Pre and ACP-Post solvers.