Southwest Research ARMOR MECHANICS Institute® Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) has been Armor Technologies involved in armor mechanics, armor concepts, and design and evaluation for over 30 years, Types of Armor including experimental, analytical, and computa- ■ Monolithic tional studies. The staff is internationally recog- ■ Multi-material nized for their contributions to fundamental and ■ Multi-component KEYWORDS applied understanding of penetration and armor ■ Spaced plate mechanics. ■ Heavy Penetration Mechanics An integrated approachexperimentation, ■ Light ■ Reactive Armor Mechanics numerical simulation, and analytical modeling is used to investigate and solve fundamental ■ Active and applied problems in armor mechanics, armor Long-Rod Penetrators Materials applications and armor design, including reactive Small Arms and active armor systems. High-speed diagnostics ■ Metallics and a wide variety of launchers are used to sup- ■ Ceramics Body Armor port experimental studies. A complementary ■ Composites high-rate materials laboratory allows material ■ Fabrics Ballistic Testing characterization and determination of computa- ■ Explosives tional constitutive constants. ■ Inert elements Terminal Ballistics Applications and Experience Projectiles/Threats Ballistic Impact ■ Long rods ■ Low-speed impact ■ Frament-Simulating ■ Small arms Medium caliber Projectiles ■ Anti-tank kinetic energy projectiles 14.5 (B32, BS41) ■ Chemical energy threats 30-mm AP FSP 30-mm APDS ■ Armor efficiency assessment ■ ■ Evaluation of penetrator defeat mechanisms Small arms Shaped Charges ■ Testing of passive, reactive, and active armors Rifle Handgun Armor Concepts Armor-piercing Ball Armor Concept ■ FSPs Evaluation ■ Shaped charges Passive Armor Defeat Mechanisms Reactive Armor ■ Target strength ■ Obliquity Active Armor ■ Fracture D013737 ■ Yaw Scale-model ceramic laminate (RHA / Al2O3 / RHA) Homeland Security targets ■ Rotation ■ Spaced elements ■ Erosion ■ Spreading the load Applications ■ Ballistic limit ■ Ballistic protection design ■ Concept evaluation D013736 ■ Design improvements Numerical simulation of a long-rod projectile against a spaced-armor array SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE Facilities ■ Indoor ballistics range ■ 20/30-mm high-performance gun system ■ 50-mm high-performance cannon (impact velocities up to ~2.0 km/s) ■ Outdoor test areas, up to 1000 yards ■ Storage, handling, and application of explosives D013867 Flash x-ray of a long-rod projectile in ■ Fully equipped instrumentation trailer flight (top); same projectile after impact (high-speed data acquisition of pressure, to induce fracture (bottom) strain, displacement, etc.) ■ Flash radiography ■ High-speed video (up to 60,000 frames Damaged ceramic per second) tile, impacted by a ■ 7.62-mm APM2 bul- Ultra-high-speed digital imaging (up to let 100 million frames per second) D013866 Response of two types of alumi- num alloys to impact by a lead-filled ball round AI-7075 T6 AI-6061 T6 D0138641 Southwest Research Institute is an independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organi- zation using multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving. The Institute occupies 1,200 acres in San Antonio, Texas, and provides more than 2 million square feet of laboratories, test facilities, work- shops and offices for more than 3,300 employees who perform con- tract work for industry and govern- ment clients. We welcome James D. Walker, Ph.D. your inquiries. Staff Scientist, Computational Mechanics Section For additional (210) 522-2051 information, [email protected] please contact: Engineering Dynamics Department Mechanical and Materials Engineering Division Southwest Research Institute Website: Southwest Research Institute www.swri.org 6220 Culebra Road • P.O. Drawer 28510 Engineering Dynamics Department Website: San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510 www.engdyn.swri.org Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V Committed to Diversity in the Workplace JCN 225527 18-1130 ec.