Large scale Optimal Transportation Meshfree (OTM) Simulations of Hypervelocity Impact

Large scale three-dimensional numerical simulations of hypervelocity impact of Aluminum alloy 6061-T6 plates by Nylon 6/6 cylindrical projectile have been performed using the Optimal Transportation Meshfree (OTM) method of Li et al. [7] along with the seizing contact and variational material point failure algorithm [17, 18]. The dynamic response of the Al6061-T6 plate including phase transition in the high strain rate, high pressure and high temperature regime expected in our numerical analysis is described by the use of a variational thermomechanical coupling constitutive model with SESAME equation of state, rate-dependent J2 plasticity with power law hardening and thermal softening and temperature dependent Newtonian viscosity. A polytropic type of equation of state fit to in-house ReaxFF calculations is employed to model the Nylon 6/6 projectile under extreme conditions. The evaluation of the performance of the numerical model takes the form of a conventional validation analysis. In support of the analysis, we have conducted experiments over a range of plate thicknesses of [0.5, 3.0] mm, a range of impact velocities of [5.0, 7.0]km/s and a range of obliquities of [0, 70] at Caltech's Small Particle Hypervelocity Range (SPHIR) Facility. Large scale three-dimensional OTM simulations of hypervelocity impact are performed on departmental class systems using a dynamic load balancing MPI/PThreads parallel implementation of the OTM method. We find excellent full field agreement between measured and computed perforation areas, debris cloud and temperature field. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Hypervelocity Impact Society.