IMPACT OF THIN-WALLED PROJECTILES WITH CONCRETE TARGETS

An experimental program to determine the response of thin-walled steel projectiles to the impact with concrete targets was recently conducte d. The projectiles were fired against 41-MPa concrete targets at an im pact velocity of 290 m/s. This article contains an outline of the expe rimental program, an examination of the results of a typical test, and predictions of projectile deformation by classical shell theory and c omputational simulation. Classical shell analysis of the projectile in dicated that the predicted impact loads would result in circumferentia l buckling. A computational simulation of a rest was conducted with an impact/penetration model created by linking a rigid-body penetration trajectory code with a general-purpose finite element code. Scientific visualization of the resulting data revealed that circumferential buc kling was induced by the impact conditions considered. (C) 1995 John W iley & Sons, Inc.