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.