EXPLOSIVE REACTIVE ARMOR ENCLOSURE SIMULATION

Heavily armored vehicles contain a thick base armor, yet it is insufficient for protection against shaped charges of high explosive anti-tank warheads. Add on armors such as non-explosive reactive armors (NERA) and explosive reactive armors (ERA) have been developed to increase protection levels of armored vehicles. ERA elements are composed of plates and explosive materials. ERA requires a rugged enclosure that reduces the collateral damage during a ballistic event by controlling the effects of the ensuing blast. An attempt is made to simulate the enclosure tests and capture sandwich plate’s behaviors subjected to detonating energetic explosives by using LS-DYNA nonlinear explicit solver, widely used in simulating detonation, impact, ballistics, and other structural problems. Successful simulation of ERA enclosures will allow an evaluation of the influences of some of the parameters, such as thickness of plate and attack angle, and different materials to improve design solutions. Numerical simulation will help in identifying the parameters necessary to achieve the best enclosure design.

Citation: A. Venkatesh Babu, Madan Vunnam, Shawn Klann, Charles Filar, “EXPLOSIVE REACTIVE ARMOR ENCLOSURE SIMULATION”, In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi, MI, Aug. 10-12, 2021.