Impact Mechanics of Thin Metal Plates Using Lagrangian, CEL and SPH Methods
M.Marri1, R. Ahmed2

1Mahendher Marri, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK.

2Dr. Rehan Ahmed, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK. 

Manuscript received on 20 June 2024 | Revised Manuscript received on 27 July 2024 | Manuscript Accepted on 15 August 2024 | Manuscript published on 30 August 2024 | PP: 22-36 | Volume-13 Issue-6, August 2024 | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijeat.F452813060824 | DOI: 10.35940/ijeat.F4528.13060824

Open Access | Editorial and Publishing Policies | Cite | Zenodo | OJS | Indexing and Abstracting
© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: This paper aimed to evaluate the ballistic limit for high-speed perpendicular and oblique impacts on thin aluminium alloy (AA6061-T651, Al5052) plates. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was conducted on a commercially available software, Abaqus/Explicit®. The impact velocities in the model ranged from 100 m/s to 1000 m/s. Three distinctive modelling techniques were compared for simulating high-speed impacts, i.e., Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), Coupled Eulerian and Lagrangian (CEL) and Lagrangian. This investigation considered two different projectile shapes, i.e., conical and blunt. Plate thickness varied as 16, 20, and 26.3mm using the Lagrangian analysis. The influence of the physical properties of projectiles was analysed by comparing deformable and analytically rigid projectiles. The results of this study showed a good agreement with published data (experimental and FEA) for the Lagrangian model for both perpendicular and oblique impacts. The CEL method overestimated the ballistic limit, whereas the SPH model slightly underestimated the ballistic limit. The accuracy of the SPH model was velocity dependent, with a % error ranging from 3% (higher velocity) to 21% (lower velocity). The CEL model also showed velocity-dependent accuracy. The CEL model showed the highest percentage of energy absorption during contact interaction at the ballistic limit for perpendicular conical impacts. In contrast, Lagrangian and SPH models showed very similar energy absorption results for the blunt projectiles regardless of the impact angle. Changing the deformable projectile to analytical rigid varied the velocity-dependent % error from 2 to 38%.

Keywords: ABAQUS, Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL), Finite Element Modelling, High-Speed Interactions
Scope of the Article: Mechanical Engineering and Applications