strain was considered; however, thermal effects
were not accounted for. For the impact velocities
considered here, which are well in the ordnance
range, the computed results are not expected to be
substantially influenced by this latter assumption
as observed by Backman and Goldsmith4. It may
be noted that all analyses were carried out with the
explicit contact-impact analysis code LS-DYNA.
A user-friendly surface-to-surface contact with erosion
option in LS-DYNA was chosen for shell and solid
elements and 2-D automatic interface algorithm
for axisymmetric elements. Having established
confidence in the modelling procedures that could
yield converged residual velocity for single-layered
plates, a number of studies were carried out by
varying plate thickness, projectile parameters, impact
velocity, etc., which are presented in the Part II
of this paper. The modelling guidelines developed
here can thus be useful in efficiently creating new
design solutions which can otherwise consume
considerable time and resources if attempted through
physical testing.