Project 1-8: High-Performance Computation of Projectile Impact with Electromagnetic Fabric
Principal Investigators: Charbel Farhat (Stanford), Tarek Zohdi (UC Berkeley)

For many years, ballistics experts have known that causing a projectile to tumble during flight will reduce the force of its impact by increasing the area of contact between the projectile and its target. A shield that could cause a ballistic projectile to begin tumbling shortly before impact could provide added protection to the structure or person behind the shield, but this concept has been difficult to put into practice. AHPCRC researchers are exploring the development of a new generation of ballistic shielding fabric that uses electromagnetic fields to affect the flight of an incoming projectile. The magnetic field induces a torque that causes the projectile to tumble. The projectile is then easier to stop because its velocity is used against it. The risk of damage to the target is decreased still further because of the increased chance that a flat side of the projectile, rather than a sharp side, will be the first to make contact with the target.

These researchers are developing massively parallel high-performance algorithms capable of treating the type of unique physics involving multiphysical contact, transient current flow through a fabric network, electromagnetic fabric deformation and rupture, and electromagnetically-induced thermodynamic (Joule) heating. The HPC models developed and executed at Stanford's computational facilities are calibrated against laboratory tests conducted at the experimental facilities at UC Berkeley. The research builds upon almost a decade of theoretical and numerical work by the Stanford and Berkeley groups dealing with more traditional ballistic fabric shielding, as well as the last three years of collaborative work between these groups.