An overview on the ballistic performance of woven-fabric-based flexible protective systems: Experimental and numerical studies.

• Both experimental and modeling techniques to characterize the ballistic performance of woven fabrics are comprehensively introduced. • The underlying mechanisms of energy absorption and influencing factors are presented from a full-scale discussion. • The recommendations for the future design and research work of flexible armor systems are proposed. With the advancement of firearms and explosive weapons on the battlefield or during law enforcement, the requirements of flexible protective systems have been made more challenging, primarily in that the protective armor should provide better protection with reduced weight and limited restriction on mobility. Confronted by such a challenge, engineering design of ballistic fabrics and panels becomes a reasonable approach to provide better protection using fibers and structures that are currently available for this application. The currently most used commercially available high-performance fibers are aramid and Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). Most ballistic fabrics are manufactured by weaving and cross-plying, though knitting, braiding, and nonwoven techniques catch up or even move ahead very fast. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the ballistic impact of woven fabric is presented. The first section of this paper introduces the background of this topic and the relevant previous review papers summarizing the numerous publications in this field. This is followed by the presentation of the experimental techniques used to characterize the performance and responses of woven fabrics. Apart from experimental work, a summarization of the modeling techniques, such as early semi-empirical, analytical, and most recent numerical models are considered. In addition, the underlying mechanisms of energy absorption and their corresponding influencing factor that bias the responses is discussed. Based on the influencing factors, approaches to further improve the penetration resistance of woven fabrics is highlighted in the final section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]