Analysis of IED sidebar explosion influence on hull of light fighting vehicle

This paper shows preliminary numerical analysis of impact of IED sidebar blast on the hull of the light fighting vehicle in order to meet the current standards. Numerical analysis was carried out using a 3-dimensional shell FE model of the vehicle. The problem of the modelling method and computer simulations required several specific features for applied material models, e.g. physical state, plasticity, crispness, hardness. All necessary material properties were taken from the available literature or they were based on the experimental tests carried out in the Department of Mechanics and Applied Computer Science at the Military University of Technology. The STANAG 4569 is a legal basis that regulates the level of ballistic protection for such vehicles. Companies producing that kind of armoured vehicles for army, constantly look for the best and the newest energy consuming materials to ensure appropriate protection of the vehicle and the crew inside it against the effect of IED blast. The connection between a detonation wave and a formed shrapnel shell after detonation of the IED is created depending on the mass and kind of the charge. It is caused by impulsive load on a side bar or the bottom of a light vehicle. Both, safety of people and equipment endurance, is compatible with main rules that are common in Polish Army and it will be common rule in future. It is the fact that motivates the research centres and the arms industry to develop a product using advance computation method to construct new energy absorbing construction which will increase safety of the crew in the armed vehicle.