Advances in ballistic penetrating impact simulations on thin structures using Smooth Particles Hydrodynamics: A state of the art

Experimental tests, analytical modeling, empirical or semi-empirical fit, and numerical simulation, are different concepts and ways to study the complex mechanism of High-Velocity Impact (HVI). Mainly studied in the framework of the improvement of high strength material, the understanding of this physical process can help to optimize the structures submitted to HVI problems. Aerospatial or aeronautic lightweight structures, body-armor or armor plates devices, and others should be investigated, taking into account the high-velocity impact loading in terms of ability to stop projectiles, in terms of mass optimization, in terms of reduction of injury appearance for the human body. At a numerical level, lots of approaches like finite element method, finite difference method, or particle methods have been developed, allowing modeling and predicting the behavior of a structure impacted by a projectile. Focusing on the last one, the Smooth Particles Hydrodynamics (SPH) method as the earliest meshless method has been widely developed in the last decades. The characteristic of particle modeling in the SPH method can avoid the typical weakness (mesh distortion) of the mesh-based method, and make it naturally suitable for the large deformation problems. It can be found in the literature that the SPH method has been widely applied to model the behavior of a mechanical structure, especially concentrating on thin-plate structures. This paper attempts to make a state of the art for recent advances concerning the perforation of thin plates in the context of ballistic impacts using SPH analysis.