Behavior of aluminum foams under hypervelocity impact: Validation of numerical simulation

The SPH modeling of aluminum foam configurations under hypervelocity impact using an own three-dimensional SPH code was investigated. The projectile and foam were modeled using an SPH method, with a constant smoothing length of 0.2 mm. The bumper plate and rearwall were also modeled using an SPH method, with a constant smoothing length of 0.25 mm. The Mie-Gruneisen form of the shock Hugoniot equation of state and the John-Cook strength model were applied for all materials. Experiments and numerical simulations of configurations with aluminum foams without layered bumper or by-layered bumper were implemented and compared. It was observed that the aluminum foam with a relatively density of near 26.9%, can effectively scatter the impact energy of projectiles.