Geometry optimization of a double-layered inertial reactive armor configured with rotating discs

An innovative inertial reactive armor is being developed through a multi-discipline project. Unlike the well-known explosive or non-explosive reactive armour that uses high-energy explosives or bulging effect, the proposed inertial reactive armour uses active disc elements that is set to rotate rapidly upon impact to effectively deflect and disrupt shaped charges and kinetic energy penetrators. The effectiveness of the proposed armour highly depends on the tangential velocity of the impact point on the rotating disc. However, for a single layer armour with an array of high-speed rotating discs, the tangential velocity is relatively low near the center of the disc and is not available between the gap of the discs. Therefore, it is necessary to configure the armor with double layers to increase the tangential velocity at the point of impact. This paper explores a multi-objective geometry design optimization for the double-layered armor using Nelder-Mead optimization algorithm and integration tools of the python programming language. The optimization objectives include maximizing both average tangential velocity and high tangential velocity areas and minimizing low tangential velocity area. The design parameters include the relative position (translation and rotation) of the disc element between two armor layers. The optimized design results in a significant increase of the average tangential velocity (38%), increase of the high tangential velocity area (71.3%), and decrease of the low tangential velocity area (86.2%) as comparing to the single layer armor.