A study on the ballistic damage tolerance design of aircraft structure from armor piercing bullet hits

A damage reference database from armor piercing bullet hits was established for tube and plate specimens with different thicknesses. The penetration damage diameters of the tube specimens showed larger at the center than the periphery in the front, but they resulted larger at the periphery than the center in the rear. As the angle of attack of the plate specimens increased, the penetration damage diameters increased as well, with the penetration damage diameters becoming larger in the rear than the front. Using the damage reference database, the fatigue analysis was performed to determine whether the safety requirements for the military aircraft could be met.