Modeling of Landmine Loading of Armored Vehicles and Extension to Field Testing Assessment

Protection Engineering Consultants (PEC) developed a soil model and landmine modeling strategy for LS-DYNA that resulted in excellent agreement with data from carefully controlled, precision tests. A traditional all-ALE approach and a less conventional all-SPH approach were evaluated, as well as hybrid formulations. Regardless of the modeling strategy used, the accuracy of landmine blast load predictions is strongly driven by the fidelity of the soil material model. PEC has developed a sandy soil model specifically for landmine simulations, which requires only two inputs: dry sand density and moisture content. Comparisons with data from two precision test series were exceptionally strong and the average error for predicted impulse was less than 2.5%, using a priori material parameter settings. This approach was employed to study the effects of disturbed soil above the landmine as occurs in live fire tests, where a hole is excavated, the landmine placed and the soil backfilled above the mine.