AHPCRC Projects
Project 1-2: Simulation of Ballistic Gel Penetration Principal Investigator: Adrian Lew (Stanford) |
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| Simulation of a spherical projectile penetrating a ballistic gel. | Projectile impact makes a path through a block of ballistic gel. | Finite element mesh resolutions |
| Graphics this page courtesy Adrian Lew (Stanford University). | ||
Ballistic impact produces multiple physical effects at high speeds. Soft materials like polymers and human soft tissues deform, crack, melt, and rupture at the site of the impact, and the effects are propagated to the surrounding areas and attached structures. HPC modeling helps designers understand how these materials respond to stress, impact, heat, and shock. The methods developed here are being applied to the study of ballistic impact damage and applied stress in human soft tissue, to improve diagnostics and treatment of injuries. Computer models based on ballistic gels, which simulate human soft tissues, show how the energy from a ballistic impact is dissipated and illustrate the damage patterns characteristic of specific types of impact. Current research focuses on increasing the number of processors for the modeling and simulation runs, investigating the effect of techniques for simplifying the calculations (sending the projectile through a pre-existing hole, for example) on the accuracy of the results, and making the models more realistic by adding features such as crack behavior and energy dissipation effects. Results of the modeling studies are compared with laboratory tests performed at the University of California, Berkeley. |
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