A Reactive Deflector Technology for Vehicle and Crew Protection from Landmine and IED Blast

The objective of the proposed research is to improve vehicle and crew protection from landmine and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This will be done by developing a new computational design methodology and an innovative reactive deflector concept that can be installed in current and future tactical vehicle systems. The innovative idea is based on a novel functionally-graded Negative Poisson¡¯s Ratio (NPR) material concept developed at MKP, which has an imbedded reactive mechanism that can morph deflector¡¯s shape and concentrate material into the area where is most needed utilizing the blast energy for improving blast mitigation and crew protection. This idea will be combined together with the optimal morphing shape design and optimal NPR material distribution to further improve the protection while minimizing the weight of the deflector. Structures fabricated using this new concept (combining material configuration, shape and reactivity) can react to the explosion and reconfigure themselves under the blast force to provide maximum blast protection. The dynamic reconfiguration includes both shape morphing and material reorganization under blast loads (mechanical triggers) and potentially other non-blast impulses (thermal, electrical triggers). The proposed research consists of two basic approaches to deflector design: Morphing structure with optimized shape and material reconfiguration with our innovative reactive mechanism.