Behind-armor Fragments from Tungsten Rods Penetrating Steel

Analysis of behind the armor ballistic trauma.

The impact response of body armor composed of a ceramic plate with an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber-reinforced composite and layers of UHMWPE fibers shielding a block of ballistic gelatin has been experimentally and numerically analyzed. It is a surrogate model for studying injuries to human torso caused by a bullet striking body protection armor placed on a person. Pho...

Injury risk in behind armor blunt thoracic trauma.

First responders and military personnel are particularly susceptible to behind armor blunt thoracic trauma in occupational scenarios. The objective of this study was to develop an armored thorax injury risk criterion for short duration ballistic impacts. 9 cadavers and 2 anthropomorphic test dummies (AUSMAN and NIJ 0101.04 surrogate) were tested over a range of velocities encompassing low sever...

Virtual Experiments to Determine Behind-armor Debris for Survivability Analysis

When a projectile perforates the armor of a vehicle, the residual projectile entering the vehicle is accompanied by a much wider cloud of behind-armor debris (BAD) generated by stress wave interactions. BAD plays an important role in the evaluation of survivability of crew and components in a vehicle under fire. Survivability/vulnerability analysis codes (e.g., MUVES) require an input of BAD ch...

Origin of the 44-mm behind-armor blunt trauma standard.

A number of armed assaults on public officials occurred in the early 1970s, which prompted the Lightweight Soft Body Armor Program to develop modern, concealable, soft body armor. Methodology needed to be developed to (1) determine the effectiveness of the soft body armor to stop bullet penetration and (2) assess the potential injury from nonpenetrating blunt impacts to the body. Extensive rese...

Hypervelocity Impact Shock-induced Damage to Steel Armor