Design and Development of a Protection System Combining a Perforated Plate and Lightweight Composite Armor against 12.7 mm Caliber Threats

Abstract

This study examines the ballistic behavior designed and developed to protect against lightweight composite armor for large-caliber 12.7 mm armor-piercing (AP) threats. To achieve this, a perforated steel plate combined with a base armor (SiC-Kevlar) is utilized. The efficient selection of materials and optimized design are key to attaining lightweight armor. Accordingly, the most suitable materials in the best geometric configuration are identified for each component of the system. Based on the selected material, a novel geometric design for the perforated plate's holes was proposed, replacing the traditional cylindrical holes with conical ones. The proposed design simultaneously ensures greater potential for asymmetric impact and structural integrity of the armor structure, thereby improving its ballistic performance. Finite element simulations using LS-DYNA, along with the response surface method (RSM), were employed to optimize key parameters of the perforated plate, such as cone angle and air spacing. The results suggest that the proposed conically perforated plate design can be more effectively utilized than the cylindrical perforated plate for ballistic protection, regardless of whether the impact occurs at the center of the hole or at its edge.