Project

Blast and fragment resistant Textile - BLASTEX

Acronym
BLASTEX
Code
174M4523
Duration
01 December 2023 → 01 March 2028
Funding
Federal funding: various
Research disciplines
  • Engineering and technology
    • Polymer composites
    • Computational materials science
    • Textiles
Keywords
textile composite blast loading numerical modelling
 
Project description

In order to optimally design armored protection to resist blast and fragmentation damage, realistic experimental testing and precise modelling and simulation tools are required. Therefore, the proposed project aims at developping optimised Explosion-proof textile-based armor to be used in both personal and vehicle protection using a novel experimental technique for combined fragment impact and blast loading, which is closer to the actual threat than the existing ballistic impact test standards. Once reliable test data have been gathered, a finite element based model will be developed to predict the blast and fragment protection by the textile-based armor. The test data will be used as input for the simulations, as well as for validation of the predictions. The project is a collaboration between Sioen, a leading textile manufacturer in Belgium, the Royal Military Academy and Ghent University.