Current Simulation Methods in Military Systems Vulnerability Assessment

Abstract

Due chiefly to the requirements and opportunities of Live Fires Testing during the past five years, substantial efforts have been expended by the Ballistic Research Laboratory to improve the state of armored vehicle vulnerability modeling. In order to mirror field observables, the existing point-burst methodology was extended to include the principal sources of stochasticism intrinsic to physical damage processes. This has led to the ability to predict the probability of specific damage states occuring on a shot- by-shot basis. Such damage characterization, when calibrated with Live Fire experiments, represents for the first time an analytical tool that approaches a 'first principles' vulnerability model. What emerges now is a hierarchy of vulnerability models. At the low end are codes capable of estimating warhead perforation (including residuals) into armored vehicle ballistic hulls and turrets. At the next level is the so-called Compartment-Code methodology. With this level of modeling, all LoFs are related to main-penetrator residuals by lumped-parameter relations. At the high end exist the aforementioned stochastic methods. We further propose that this generic strategy be tailored to all classes of threat/target interactions.