Experimental and numerical investigation of energy absorption elastomer panel with honeycomb structure

The paper presents a prototype design of elastomer energy absorbing panel made in a shape of honeycomb structure. The proposed panel was installed in a protected plate and tested on a specially designed test stand, where a shock wave from a small explosive charge was applied. The elastomer honeycomb structure was compared with a version of the panel made of solid elastomer materials, the same as used in the honeycomb structure and also with a protected plate without any panels. During the research, acceleration in the middle part of each investigated protected plate was recorded. The protected plates were scanned after the tests in order to measure their maximum deformation. Acceleration graphs and maximum deflections of all three considered structures were compared. The obtained results were used to validate numerical models of the designed structures and the test stand. A discreet model of the test stand and models of elastomer panels were developed with HyperMesh FEM software using shell and solid elements. The materials were described using a tabulated Johnson-Cook model and constitutive model for the rubber parts; all available in the material library of Ls-Dyna software. The blast loading was simulated using the CONWEP method. This model generates a boundary condition, based on the experimental data and TNT equivalent mass, which substitutes the wave propagation with a pressure. Finally, the experimental results of acceleration and deformation of the plates were compared with the corresponding results of the numerical analyses carried out using finite element method. The numerical models can be utilised in the future research as a virtual range stand. The developed elastomer honeycomb structure can be modified to meet various requirements of ballistic protection levels, by applying elastomer of different stiffness or optimizing shape and dimensions of the honeycomb structure.