This is an excerpt from a flier presented (March 22, 2011) to the Minister-Counselor of the Australian Embassy in Washington DC.

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Expertise and resources for simulations of high-rate large-deformation penetration and

perforation at multiple scales
Prof Rebecca Brannon
Multi-physics engineering simulations: The open-source massively
parallel Uintah computational framework (www.uintah.utah.edu) includes
the Material Point Method (MPM) for solids modeling optionally coupled
to turbulent, laminar, and diffusive flow solvers for fluid-solid
interactions. Explosive blasts can be modeled at various degrees of
confinement for a diverse set of representative real-world heterogeneous
(e.g., layered) natural and synthesized materials (soil, rock, concrete,
armor ceramics, brittle and ductile metals, etc.). Uintahs suite of libraries
for modeling complex chemical and physical reactions, as well as fluidsolid interactions, is the result of a multi-million dollar Department of
Energy (DOE) investment, originally to model structural safety in
accidental explosions and fires. Uintahs underlying technologies have
subsequently continued development in applications of well-bore
completion by shaped-charge jet penetration, which has been solved on
macroscale domains (~1 meter wide) and mesoscale (~1-10 mm wide)
domains that explicitly model sand grains impacted by single tungsten
particles liberated in shaped-charge jet formation. Uintah has also been
used to model the manufacturing process for powder-compacted liners.

Fig. 1. Demonstration that

Uintah can handle virtually
unlimited material extension.

Simulation of explosion in Uintah is accommodated by

Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) detonation or deflagration of
high-explosive (HE) material, resulting from either
mechanical or thermal initiation. These simulations
predict transformation of the solid HE into highly
pressurized gaseous products.
Fluid-structure interactions are supported in Uintah via
two approaches. A finite-volume, multi-material
Fig. 2. Shape charge jet formation and penetration
compressible CFD formulation can be coupled with an
www.csafe.utah.edu/gallery.php
MPM particle method for the solid. More recently, a
research effort is underway to implement the flow of fluid through permeable solid using an algorithm
developed specifically for the MPM [Mackenzie-Helnwein et al., 2010] which allows tracking two separate
velocity fields (one for the solid matrix and one for the fluid flowing relative to the matrix, where the extension
to a triphasic formulation will be assessed: velocities for solid, liquid (water), and gas (air)).
Constitutive Modeling: The University of Utahs computational solid
mechanics (CSM) research group is a leader in modeling of rock and
armor ceramics to account for aleatory uncertainty and scale effects in
material failure models for armor ceramics. Other expertise includes
electroactive materials (such as PZT ferroelectric ceramics), which
could be used to detect impact and to trigger active protective
countermeasures. The group also is developing passive protective
material composites that absorb more impact and blast energy (per
areal mass) than conventional armor. The CSM group has an active
research effort to understand and model rate-dependent ductility in
rolled homogenous (and similar) metallic armor materials, as well as to
accommodated induced anisotropy.

Fig. 3. Irregular fracture in SiC

ceramic under dynamic impact of a
WC sphere.