Assessment of a high strength concrete using experimental and numerical methodologies for high strain rate ballistic impacts

•Experimental analysis of BBR9 high-strength concrete for various impact conditions.•Ballistic limits for three target thicknesses are identified.•Finite element analysis for the ballistic impacts of the BBR9 concrete.•Calibration of the HJC model's parameters for the BBR9 concrete.•Validation of the calibrated HJC model is established using ballistic experiments. The high compressive strength of concrete materials enables it to be implemented for many applications. Understanding its response under high strain rate loadings is especially important for some of these applications. This study investigates the high strain rate response of a high-performance concrete denoted as BBR9 under ballistic impact. This is conducted through both an experimentally and numerically based methodology. BBR9 targets are impacted with a spherical projectile at velocities ranging from 432 to 1459 m/s and three target thicknesses ranging from 25.4 to 58.1 mm. These impacts are studied numerically by formulating a finite element model corresponding to the experimental design in this study. The mechanical response of the concrete target is captured using the Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC) concrete model with its parameters calibrated to confined compressive experiments of the BBR9 concrete. The simulations show good agreement with the kinetic experimental data with an average error across all simulation points of approximately 5%, thereby validating the HJC model for this concrete in these high strain rate loading applications.