Multiple Hit Performance of Small Arms Protective Armor

ENIG, in collaboration with SRI, proposes to develop a modeling methodology with predictive and inferential capabilities to address the challenges of designing body armor to resist realistic multiple impacts from burst fire events. Our toolkit will provide an end-to-end modeling capability, grounded in the statistics of realistic impacts from small-arms fire, which would address the final materials state of a body armor system. ENIG will predict armor performance after an initial impact, predict the location of possible subsequent impacts, and update the materials model with these subsequent impacts. Initially, as a proof-of-concept, ENIG will focus the statistics of realistic burst fire impacts, examine the effect of multiple impacts from a Type IV, armor-piercing rifle threat on a ESAPI consisting of a boron carbide ceramic with a ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene backing. Multiple sets of impact validation studies will be performed to evaluate the ballistic resistance of this system. Methodologies developed here will be used evaluate a variety of small-arms systems, under a range of conditions. The end goal is to provide rigorous probabilistic risk assessments for body armor performance, which would enable better decision-making concerning armor design, materials selection, and requirements generation.