DAMAGE BEHAVIOR OF ALUMINA SUBMITTED TO A DIVERGENT SPHERICAL WAVE

The efficiency of ceramic armors strongly depends on the behaviour of the material submitted to the propagation of the divergent spherical w ave generated by the impact of the projectile. This paper deals with a modelling approach of the damage of an pure alumina including the exp erimental, theoretical and numerical aspects. An averaging technique i s adapted to the application field, to take into account the effect of the local damages on the overall behaviour of the material. Simplifie d empirical damages evolution laws are fitted on macroscopical measure ments. The capabilities of this approach are shown by means of compari sons between experiments and one-dimensional numerical calculations.