The V50 Approach Revisited: Application of the Brownian Motion Theory

Abstract

A common method to assess the ballistic resistance of an armor material or system is the V50 approach. Although the V50 value is in itself a useful and acceptable indicator of ballistic resistance, it is shown in this research that the usage of V50 and s50 to describe the perforation probability as a function of impact velocity is fundamentally flawed. This possibly leads to large errors when these two parameters are used to evaluate very low or very high perforation probabilities, as is done for the former in the case of Critical Perforation Analysis. Two alternative paths are presented here, a first path based on ab initio Monte Carlo modeling to illustrate the inherent limits to the current V50 methodology, and a second path based on the Brownian motion approach which might be a path for the future to better assess very low or very high perforation probabilities.