AN EXAMINATION OF VELOCITY SCALING

Velocity scaling is an experimental technique where substitute materia ls are employed to infer impact results for other materials at higher speeds. For example, impacts are conducted with cadmium at 5 km/s or z inc at 7.4 km/s to simulate the response of experiments with aluminum at 15 km/s. Despite a valid theoretical basis and compelling low-veloc ity experimental work, some questions remain about the technique becau se comparisons to the high speed impacts being simulated were heretofo re unavailable. This paper combines the results of recent, high-veloci ty impact investigations and computational simulations to answer the q uestion: Does velocity scaling work?