Ballistic fracture quantification in ceramic-foam laminates by numerical manifold method

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ballistic fracture quantification in ceramic-foam laminates by numerical manifold method

AU - Yue, Rui

AU - Gu, Yuansen

AU - Ning, Youjun

AU - Zhai, Xuezhen

AU - Shu, Liuchen

AU - Kang, Ge

AU - Guo, Baoqiao

AU - Chen, Pengwan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2026 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2026/5

Y1 - 2026/5

N2 - Ceramic laminated structures are widely used in protective armor systems owing to their outstanding combination of light weight and ballistic resistance. The dynamic fracture mechanisms of ceramic cores under high-velocity impact remain unclear, limiting structural optimization and performance improvement. The numerical manifold method (NMM) is extended with capabilities for multi-crack initiation and evolution, as well as fragment interactions under dynamic loading without predefined paths. A series of ballistic experiments were conducted on 100 mm multiply 100 mm multiply 34 mm alumina ceramic-aluminum foam laminates with ceramic cores of 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm, impacted by 12.7 mm armor-piercing incendiary projectiles at 440 m/s. Configurations 3 and 4 prevented penetration, whereas configurations 1, 2, and 5 were penetrated. The NMM analysis shows good agreement with experiments, predicting residual velocity for penetrated laminates with errors of 2%–12% and back-face deflection for non-penetrated laminates with errors of 6%–16%. Crack evolution, along with crack density and fragment-size distribution, was revealed by the NMM simulations and found consistent with the recovered ceramic cores from experiments. Further PDF analysis reveal that successful protection shows nearly twice the probability density of small-sized fragments compared with penetrated cases. The developed NMM framework offers reliable predictive capability for multi-crack evolution in ceramic laminates under dynamic loading, providing new insights and valuable guidance for armor design.

AB - Ceramic laminated structures are widely used in protective armor systems owing to their outstanding combination of light weight and ballistic resistance. The dynamic fracture mechanisms of ceramic cores under high-velocity impact remain unclear, limiting structural optimization and performance improvement. The numerical manifold method (NMM) is extended with capabilities for multi-crack initiation and evolution, as well as fragment interactions under dynamic loading without predefined paths. A series of ballistic experiments were conducted on 100 mm multiply 100 mm multiply 34 mm alumina ceramic-aluminum foam laminates with ceramic cores of 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm, impacted by 12.7 mm armor-piercing incendiary projectiles at 440 m/s. Configurations 3 and 4 prevented penetration, whereas configurations 1, 2, and 5 were penetrated. The NMM analysis shows good agreement with experiments, predicting residual velocity for penetrated laminates with errors of 2%–12% and back-face deflection for non-penetrated laminates with errors of 6%–16%. Crack evolution, along with crack density and fragment-size distribution, was revealed by the NMM simulations and found consistent with the recovered ceramic cores from experiments. Further PDF analysis reveal that successful protection shows nearly twice the probability density of small-sized fragments compared with penetrated cases. The developed NMM framework offers reliable predictive capability for multi-crack evolution in ceramic laminates under dynamic loading, providing new insights and valuable guidance for armor design.

KW - Ballistic performance

KW - Dynamic fracture

KW - Fragmentation quantification

KW - Laminated structures

KW - Numerical manifold method

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031595691

U2 - 10.1016/j.tws.2026.114742

DO - 10.1016/j.tws.2026.114742

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105031595691

SN - 0263-8231

VL - 224

JO - Thin-Walled Structures

JF - Thin-Walled Structures

M1 - 114742

ER -