On the main mechanisms in ballistic perforation of steel plates at sub-ordnance impact velocities

Abstract

This review is a summary of earlier published work carried out by CRISIMLab during the last decade on the ballistic perforation of steel plates at subordnance impact velocities. The reason for carrying out these studies was twofold. First, we wanted to increase our understanding of the many physical phenomena taking place during structural impact by studying some of the main parameters affecting the ballistic perforation resistance of steel plates in the sub-ordnance velocity regime. Second, we wanted to generate high-precision experimental data for the validation of computational tools to be used in the design of protective structures. The main focus in this summary has been on the experimental part. Since several parameters in the experimental studies are similar, such as the velocity regime, the projectile material and mass, and the target material and geometry, the comparison between the various experimental results are both easier and more reliable. The experimental set-up and the various experimental programmes are first presented in brief. Then some main experimental results from five different experimental studies are presented and discussed in some detail. A material model used for numerical simulations of the impact event, together with a short description of the material tests and identification of material constants, are described next. Finally, a selection of results from non-linear finite element simulations of the experimental tests is presented, before some concluding remarks are given.