Experimental and numerical investigation of a blunt rigid projectile penetrating into a sandwich panel having aluminum foam core

Sandwich panels(structures) of metal surface having aluminum foam core are of great importance in aerospace, naval and automotive industries due to high strength to weight ratio and high energy absorption characteristics. In this article several aluminum sandwich panels with aluminum foam core having different densities and thickness were designed and tested using light gas gun device. A series of ballistic test were defined in order to determine the effects of density, foam thickness and projectile velocity on energy absorption and ballistic limit velocity of sandwich structures. The material model used for metal foam was Deshpande- Fleck-Foam and coefficients were determined experimentally using foam and Matlab capabilities. Also, numerical simulation using LSDYNA software were performed. The results of the experiment and numerical simulation were compared and there was a good agreement between experimental investigation and numerical results. Using experimental testes and parametric studies,it is shown that the amount of energy absorption of sandwich structures is increased as density, foam thickness and velocity of the projectile is increased.