Numerical Investigation of Ballistic Performance of Alumina Against Fragment Simulating Projectiles

This study investigated the ballistic performance of alumina 99.7 against fragment-simulating projectiles. The alumina ceramic tile was of dimension 100 × 100 mm with a thickness of 5 mm. The fragment-simulating projectile (FSP) was 5.54 mm in diameter and 6.35 mm in height. Numerical simulations were performed on the ANSYS-LSDYNA® code. The fragmented projectile was made of Steel 4340. The behavior of alumina 99.7 ceramic is characterized using the Johnson-Holmquist (JH-2) material model which is a preferred model in analyzing the rate-dependent behavior of brittle materials and the Johnson-Cook material model was used to simulate the behavior of fragment-simulating projectile. The numerical model agreed with the experimental results provided in the literature and correctly predicted the residual velocity, projectile deformation, and failure of the alumina plate.