Penetration of a Long Rod into a Semi-infinite Target

Abstract

Penetration phenomena are of interest in numerous areas, see [1]. Though they are often associated with military applications, the same considerations apply to the problem of nuclear waste containment and to the protection of spacecraft or satellites from debris and/or meteoroid impact. Formally, the penetration is defined as the entrance of a projectile into a target without completing its passage through the body. The penetration phenomena can be characterized according to the impact angle, the geometric and material characteristics of the target and the projectile and the striking velocity. In this chapter we shall focus on the normal incidence impact of a long rod on a semi-infinite target. This investigation involves the modeling of the physical situation in which a very thick armour is penetrated by a high kinetic energy projectile. This problem corresponds to some real situations, for example when the frontal armour of modern tanks is attacked by the so called Anti-Armour Kinetic projectile. The complete solution of this problem requires a numerical simulation using finite element methods. Without going through the expense of finite elements we will effectively model penetration phenomena through the use of Maple. The aim of this chapter is the investigation of some models of penetration as described in [2].