Computational assessment of ballistic impact on a high strength structural steel/polyurea composite plate

Ballistic impact on a polyurea retrofitted high strength structural steel plate is simulated and validated. A soft material model for polyurea, which is capable of capturing complex mechanical behavior characterized by large strains, hysteresis, rate sensitivity, stress softening (Mullins effect), and deviatoric and volumetric plasticity, is calibrated against several uniaxial tension experiments and a three-dimensional release wave experiment to capture both the material point and bulk behaviors. A porous plasticity model is employed to model the high strength structural steel and localization elements are included to capture adiabatic shear bands and strain localization. The computational capabilities of these models are demonstrated by the prediction of the target plate displacement, which shows excellent agreement with experiments.