FEM-BASED STUDY OF A BULLET IMPACT ON A COMPOSITE PLATE

Abstract

This paper investigates numerically the resistance of a composite plate exposed to the bullet impact load. A 9 mm caliber bullet hits a three-layer plate made of Kevlar 49 material. For this case of impact analysis, a numerical simulation is performed using the finite element method. The simulation is realized in Abaqus software. As a high-velocity impact is analyzed with significant nonlinearities involved, an explicit time-integration scheme is selected as a suitable option. The prediction of plate damage is based on the Hashin criteria defined in a VUMAT subroutine, which is written in FORTRAN programming language. The objective of the work is to analyze how the selected sequence of layers influences the results of the bullet impact. The obtained results are of great significance in the ballistic vests industry, which develops products for passive protection of the user.