On projectile fragmentation at high-velocity perforation of a thin bumper

By means of 3D numerical simulations, we study the statistical properties of the fragments cloud formed during high-velocity impact of a spherical projectile on a mesh bumper. We present a quantitative description of the projectile fragmentation, and study the nature of the transition from the damage to the fragmentation of the projectile when the impact velocity varies. A distinctive feature of the present work is that the calculations are carried out by smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method applied to the equations of mechanics of deformable solids (MDS). We describe the materials behavior by the Mie–Grüneisen equation of state and the Johnson–Cook model for the yield strength. The maximum principal stress spall model is used as the fracture model. It is shown that the simulation results of fragmentation based on the MDS equations by the SPH method are qualitatively consistent with the results obtained earlier on the basis of the molecular dynamics and discrete element models. It is found that the power-law distribution exponent does not depend on energy imparted to the projectile during the high-velocity impact. At the same time, our calculations show that the critical impact velocity, the power-law exponent and other critical exponents depend on the fracture criterion.