Experimental and numerical study of reactive powder concrete reinforced with steel wire mesh against projectile penetration

This paper presents experimental and numerical studies on impact resistance of reactive powder concrete (RPC) targets reinforced with 44-layer steel wire meshes. Steel ogive-nosed projectiles with an average mass of 330 g and striking velocities ranging from 550 m/s to 800 m/s were launched against the cylindrical RPC targets with 750 mm diameter and 700 mm thickness. The impact responses observed in the tests, including depth of penetration (DOP), crater diameter and volume loss, were investigated and discussed, which indicates an effective impact resistance of steel wire mesh reinforced RPC in comparison with the previous studies on ultra-high performance based cement composites (UHPCC) with additions of fibres and basalt aggregates. Numerical studies based on validated material and element models are also conducted to simulate the impact responses of reinforced RPC targets against high-velocity projectile penetration in explicit hydro-code LS-DYNA. The impact responses, especially for the DOP, are well predicted by using the numerical models. Moreover, further investigation based on the verified numerical models is discussed in the present paper to explore the influence of mechanical and physical properties of steel wire mesh reinforcement on the resistance of projectile penetration.