Study of impact resistance of a novel bio-inspired ceramic-composite structure using finite element simulations

AbstractThe multi-layer armor shell structure of the scaly-foot snail has been proven to be resistant to penetration and perforation. Inspired by the special structure, a novel ceramic-composite impact-resistant structure was proposed. We developed a user-defined subroutine (VUMAT) of the finite element software ABQUS to analyze the progressive damage process and energy dissipation mechanism under impact. It is found that the novel structure features rigid-flexible coupling, both soft and hard layers play a key role in the impact resistance process. Compared with the traditional sandwich structure, the novel structure has better impact resistance under the impact energy of 20 J–80 J.Keywords: Biomimeticmulti-layer structureimpact resistanceenergy dissipationfinite element simulation AcknowledgmentWe extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Anders Warén from the Swedish Museum of Natural History for generously providing the image of the scale-foot snail depicted in Figure 1(a). Furthermore, we express our deep appreciation to the reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments. This work is supported by NSAF (No.U2130108) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. L212025), for which we are sincerely grateful.Additional informationFundingThis work is supported by NSAF (No.U2130108) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. L212025).