DEFENCE SYSTEMS - UNIT OF METU-BILTIR CENTER

DEFENCE SYSTEMS UNIT OF METU-BILTIR CENTER

METU-BILTIR CENTER is one of the most important interdisciplinary research and application center of Middle East Technical University. METU-BILTIR CENTER with its hightech infrastructure was established in 1992 as the first CAD/CAM Center of Turkey.

In 1999, by restructuring, the center became interdisciplinary research center as the pioneer in interdisciplinary R&D projects with the contribution of researchers from several faculties and departments at METU.

The center provides the industry-university- public collaboration for many areas. METU-BILTIR CENTER with its central units serves as a bridge to bring industry, university and public institutions together within a new and dynamic structure, ever-increasing human resources (today, more than 100 faculty members affiliated to the center), and ever-increasing work capacity.

METU-BILTIR CENTER is a research and application concentrated center. The center has initiated several research related activities. METUBILTIR CENTER has organized SAVTEK Defence Technologies Congress in 2002, 2004 and 2006 to provide a national scientific platform for participants from Turkish Armed Forces, universities, research centers and defence industry to discuss R&D studies including engineering, basic sciences, administrative sciences and educational fields for the purpose of defence technologies.

Today, METU-BILTIR CENTER is composed of 9 interdisciplinary units which are:

• METU-BILTIR Industrial Design & Production Unit
• METU-BILTIR Automation- Robotics-Electrical-Electronics Unit
• METU-BILTIR Numerical Modeling-Analysis-Design Unit
• METU-BILTIR Product Usability Unit
• METU-BILTIR Defence Systems Unit
• METU-BILTIR Unmanned Land Vehicle Unit
• METU-BILTIR Unmanned Water Vehicle Unit
• METU-BILTIR Metal Forming Unit
• METU-BILTIR Industrial Automotive Design Unit

METU-BILTIR CENTER is also active in the field of defence. In 2003, Defence Systems Unit has been established within METU-BILTIR CENTER.

The unit mainly deals with the design of armours. Since the effectiveness of an armour system very much depends on the type and capability of the threat in consideration, some research activities on the design principles of ammunitions used against armours are also carried out in the Defence Systems Unit.

The studies of Defence Systems Unit of METU-BILTIR CENTER can be classified into five main groups. These studies are:

• Small kinetic energy projectile
• Shaped charge
• ERA against shaped charge
• Blast loading
• Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP)

In all these studies the results of analytical approaches are compared with the outcomes of the numerical investigations.

These results are also verified by experiments which are performed under the guidance and responsibilities of State Owned Establishments and/or Military Services. In the numerical studies a commercially available package program AUTODYN is being used. Also, wherever necessary, original software programs are being developed for the analysis of the armour response.

1. Small Kinetic Energy Projectile Armour types studied for 7.62 mm AP projectile are specified below.

• Monolithic armour (Steel,Aluminium)
• Layered steel structure
• Fiber reinforced structures
• Alumina Ceramic (Al2O3) + Steel
• Alumina Ceramic (Al2O3) +
Aluminium
• Alumina Ceramic (Al2O3) + GRP

An example to investigation of a layered steel structure pierced by a KEprojectile is shown below.

2. Shaped Charge
Studies dealing with shaped charge include the following types:

• Linear shaped charge
• Flexible linear shaped charge
• Conical shaped charge
• Variable profile shaped charge

In these studies conditions for jet formation have been investigated. Software package programs have been developed to find jet formation and its particulation. Also penetration of armours with shaped charge jets have been analyzed by numerical techniques.

Some numbers of experiments have been carried out by using small sized shaped charges to verify the analytical and numerical solutions as well as the outputs of the developed softwares.

Variation of penetration depth with liner thickness and standoff distance is given below as an example of the studies carried out on shaped charge.

Experimental study and numerical methods related with shaped charge penetration is illustrated below. In this study penetration depth is investigated by radiographic methods and compared with the numerical simulation obtained by the package program.

3. ERA against Shaped Charge
To reduce the effect of penetration of a shaped charge jet, different mechanisms have been investigated in METU-BILTIR CENTER.

The studies conducted on ERA systems showed that it is the most effective mechanism for protection of main armour against shaped charge threats. Next figure shows the depth of penetration and corresponding numerical simulation when ERA is used against a small size shaped charge.

4. Blast Loading
The effect of blast loading on structures and panels is the main consideration of METU-BILTIR CENTER for protecting people and equipment especially against terrorist attacks. For the prediction of deformation and/or tearing (bursting) conditions of panels, some number of numerical simulations has been done as shown on the graph. These predictions can be compared with the real case applications. Figure given below shows an example of a
steel panel deformed due to a nearby
explosion.

5. Explosively Formed
Penetrator (EFP) In METU-BILTIR CENTER, analytical, numerical and experimental studies have been conducted to examine the effect of explosively formed penetrator (EFP) on armours. The study is still continuing to analyze the effect of material, thickness, shape and size of liner on the penetration.

Defence Systems Unit of METUBILTIR CENTER has conducted many academic studies related to theoretical, numerical and experimental investigation of armour systems. Substantial amount of knowledge and experience on the design of armours have built up in METU-BILTIR CENTER.