THEORY FOR BALLISTIC LIMIT OF THIN DUCTILE TUBES HIT BY BLUNT MISSILES

A beam-on-foundation analogy is used to analyse perforation of thin tu bes hit at normal obliquity by flat-nosed missiles. A structural model representing this analogy was developed previously by Yu and Stronge [1] for analysing large indentation of thin tubes hit by blunt missile s. In the present paper this model is extended to include local shear deformation. This analytical model is used to predict local failure du e to plugging and consequently the ballistic limit of a tube composed of rate-independent rigid-plastic material. These calculations are com pared with some experimental results for mild steel tubes of different thicknesses that were struck by flat-nosed missiles. Copyright (C) 19 96 Elsevier Science Ltd.