Ballistic Wave Propagation in Aramid Fiber Armor

When a bullet strikes a woven ballistic panel, the fabric can't respond everywhere at once — deformation spreads outward from the impact point as a real mechanical wave, at a speed set by the fiber's stiffness-to-density ratio. This simulator fires a projectile at a taut aramid, UHMWPE, carbon or S-glass fiber panel and renders the transverse deformation cone exactly as the classic ballistic-fabric wave theory predicts: a wave front expanding at U = c₀√(v₀/2c₀) while the impact point sinks in, followed by a spring-like engagement phase once the front reaches the panel's edge. Live readouts track the elastic wave speed c₀ = √(E/ρ), the front speed, and the instantaneous fiber strain against the material's elongation-at-break — cross the threshold and the panel is marked penetrated; stay under it and the oscillation decays into an arrest. Switch materials to see why a low-density, high-wave-speed fiber like Dyneema can outperform a stiffer but heavier one at the same impact velocity.