At the recent 2016 Land Forces Event in Adelaide, Dr Long Nguyen was awarded for his research in predicting how polyethelene armour performs under ballistic impacts.
Long has completed ground breaking work as part of the Vehicle Survivability group at DSTG – the citation reads:
“Ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) polyethylene fibre-reinforced composite is a new and promising material for ballistic and blast protection. In this work, a new physics-based mathematical model was developed, providing for the first time a fundamental understanding of the penetration mechanisms of thick UHMW polyethylene composite under impact. This model also allows accurate and rapid estimates of the ballistic performance to be made for armour design applications. A new computation simulation technique was also developed using a unique material discretisation method that captures the response of the material to ballistic impact. This enables accurate predictions of performance, deformation and damage for a wide range of impact conditions. For the first time, these models provide engineers with valid design tools to develop armour systems incorporating UHMW polyethylene composite. This work is critical to the development of future armoured vehicles and is fundamental to saving lives in future Australian Defence and coalition deployments.”
We are extremely proud of our team and the fantastic work they are doing to enhance the ADF and its operations.
Congratulations Long!
