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Composite textiles composed of materials such as Kevlar, Dyneema and Zylon are extensively used in many force/impact protection applications, such as body armor, and automobile and airplane engine fragment resistant containment. Significant effort has been devoted to ballistic testing of composite fabrics made from various manufacturing processes and designs. Performing comprehensive ballistic and impact tests for these composite textiles is a very time-consuming and costly task. Numerical models are presented in this research, thereby providing predictive capability for the manufacturer and designer to minimize field testing, as well as shedding light on to the damage mechanisms of composite fabrics subjected to ballistic impact. Several representative composite fabric architectures (such as plain weave, basket weave and knitted fabrics) are generated for finite element analysis. Numerical investigation is conducted on these fabric structures of the same mass per unit area subjected to projectile impacts. Failure patterns of woven and knitted fabrics obtained from numerical simulations are compared with those observed experimentally. Performances of the representative textile structures are evaluated based on the resultant velocity of the projectile, as well as various energy components. The influences of yarnyarn and yarn-projectile friction properties on the ballistic performance of various textile structures are presented. To highlight the effects of projectile geometry and angular rotation on the fracture of woven and knitted fabrics, a series of simulations are also performed with three distinctive projectiles of the same mass and impact energy.

Blast and impact-resistant curtains are increasingly utilized for various applications in critical infrastructures to retrofit or enhance energy absorption and fragments capturing capabilities. Investigation of the impact resistance and failure mechanisms of the protective curtains are therefore critical. Understanding the energy absorption and failure mechanisms of fabrics impacted by potential debris of medium to low striking speeds could thus lead to improvements in designing spall linings system as well as bullet-proof combat uniforms against fragmentations. This paper aims at investigating the deformation and damage mechanisms of woven fabrics subjected to low velocity impact. Gas-gun experiments are conducted to investigate the ballistic resistance of the fabrics. A mesoscale modelling approach is developed and validated with the experiment to simulate the ballistic events for various projectile striking velocities ranging between 50–150 m/s. Parametric studies and comparisons are then carried out to examine the primary energy components: strain, kinetic, and friction energy, and their associated distribution within the fabric. The decoupling of the energy absorbed by the fabric provides an insight into the interaction of the yarns, as well as the significance of the energy components during the different stages of the impact event. The studies suggest the importance of the inter-yarn friction in a low speed impact scenario.

Woven fabrics are widely used in various protective applications. The effects of different woven architectures (such as plain, basket, twill and satin) on impact resistance performance have not been adequately studied. In this work, high-speed impact testing on single layer plain weave structures has been carried out using a gas gun experimental setup. Ballistic resistance performance of the woven fabric is evaluated based on the resultant velocity of the projectile, as well as the post-mortem failure analysis. Finite element computational models are presented in this research, thereby providing predictive capability for the manufacturer and designer in order to minimise field testing, as well as shedding light on to the damage mechanisms of composite fabrics subjected to ballistic impact. The numerical model is validated with the experimental results in terms of dissipated energy and resultant velocity. Numerical investigation is conducted on other woven structures of identical areal density for comparison, revealing the importance of fabric architecture. The influences of yarn-yarn and yarn-projectile friction properties on the ballistic performance of various textile structures are also presented.

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