Study on Ballistic Limit of GFRP Laminates with Different Thickness

In order to study the relationship between the ballistic limit (critical penetration velocity) and the thickness of GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymer) laminates. Finite element model is established to calculate the initial velocity and residual velocity of tungsten alloy fragments before and after penetrating GFRP laminates. Fragment impact tests of GFRP laminates with different thicknesses were conducted to verify the availability of the finite element model. The finite element analysis (FEA) results of initial and residual velocity of fragments penetrating the laminates of different thickness were fitted by Lambert-Jonas equation. Finally, the residual velocity curves and ballistic limits of fragments penetrating the laminates of different thickness were obtained. The results show that the ballistic limits of GFRP laminates approximately linearly increase with the increase of thickness.