Assessment of the penetration resistance of sand materials for aircraft protection fortifications

Abstract

Constructing field fortifications using local materials to protect aircraft from sharp penetrating objects is a common practice when rapidly deploying protective structures at aircraft aprons. This approach offers several advantages of high flexibility, mobility, ease of construction, and cost-effectiveness compared to other aircraft protective structural solutions. This article focuses on numerical simulations using Abaqus to analyse the penetration capability of steel penetrators when coral sand from the East Sea of Vietnam and red sand from the Phan Thiet area are used as filling materials. The numerical simulation results indicate that coral sand from the offshore islands of Vietnam exhibits higher penetration resistance than Phan Thiet red sand, which has a smaller grain size modulus. The penetration depths of the penetrator in red sand and coral sand are 0.70 m and 0.495 m, respectively, corresponding to calculated penetration resistance coefficients (Kx) of 69.3.10-7 and 49.0.10-7, respectively. These findings provide an initial basis for the design and application of field fortification structures for aircraft protection using local materials.