Ballistic protection of fragment vest against IED threat
conference paper
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a serious threat for the military in out-of-area operations. The sizes and masses of fragments generated by these threats are wide ranged.
Therefore it is important to know the protective capability of protective vests against a wide range of fragment sizes. To investigate the influence of the fragment size on the protection capability of protective vests, three different fragment protective vests are tested against small and large fragment simulating projectiles (FSPs). The fahric construction and the areal density of the three protective vests were different.
This paper presents the results of this investigation. The ballistic limit velocities (V5s) are calculated with the STANIAG 2920 calculation method. In order to gain insight in the influence of the different fabric constructions used in the vests, the difference in areal density is accounted for by calculating the Vso into specific energy absorption (Eabs). The results show that the IED threat gives difficult reconcilable demands on protective vests. For fragments of 1.1 grams and larger: the ballistic performance increases with decreasing areal density per layer. If the vests all had the same areal density, than the vest with the most layers would give the best protection. For small fragments the vest with the highest weave density has the best ballistic performance. A high weave density gives a high areal density per
layer and thus a less performance against larger fragments. These results are based on a limited set of data, to verifu these trends more experiments are needed.
Therefore it is important to know the protective capability of protective vests against a wide range of fragment sizes. To investigate the influence of the fragment size on the protection capability of protective vests, three different fragment protective vests are tested against small and large fragment simulating projectiles (FSPs). The fahric construction and the areal density of the three protective vests were different.
This paper presents the results of this investigation. The ballistic limit velocities (V5s) are calculated with the STANIAG 2920 calculation method. In order to gain insight in the influence of the different fabric constructions used in the vests, the difference in areal density is accounted for by calculating the Vso into specific energy absorption (Eabs). The results show that the IED threat gives difficult reconcilable demands on protective vests. For fragments of 1.1 grams and larger: the ballistic performance increases with decreasing areal density per layer. If the vests all had the same areal density, than the vest with the most layers would give the best protection. For small fragments the vest with the highest weave density has the best ballistic performance. A high weave density gives a high areal density per
layer and thus a less performance against larger fragments. These results are based on a limited set of data, to verifu these trends more experiments are needed.
TNO Identifier
183016
Source title
Personal Armour Systems Symposium (PASS2008), Brussels, Belgium, 6-10 October 2008
Collation
9 p.
Files
To receive the publication files, please send an e-mail request to TNO Repository.