A zeolite absorbent/nano-fluidics protection-based blast- and ballistic-impact-mitigation system

The efficacy of a new blast-/ballistic-impact-mitigation concept is analyzed using advanced computational methods and tools. In this concept, the target structure is covered by a zeolite protective layer (with a layer of air between the two), which in turn is in contact with a water layer (treated as a nano-fluidic material) in front. The water molecules are forced to infiltrate zeolite nanopores under high-rate loading, following which the hydrogen bonds of the water molecules interact with the hydrophobic walls of the nanopores, causing the water to undergo an ordering-type phase transition and acquire high density. At the same time, a significant portion of the kinetic energy of the water molecules is converted to potential energy or dissipated as heat. All-atom molecular-level equilibrium and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were employed to properly capture the attendant nano-fluidics phenomena. As a result, the structure sustains a substantially lower peak load, and the (conserved) linear momentum is transferred to the structure over a longer duration.