Numerical Simulation on the Penetration Efficiency of Non-Circular Rods

Abstract

As the increasing impact velocity, the penetration mechanics of non-circular rods has attracted much attention due to its improved flight stability and launch ability. In this paper, the non-circular penetration experiments were conducted to compare with conventional right circular cross-sections. The finite element method using LS-DYNA software was performed to reproduce the penetration process. Penetrators that contain planar elements, such as rods with elliptic, rectangular cross sections are analyzed for the different cases at the impacting velocity of 400m/s~1000m/s. Comparisons are made for equal mass and equal specific kinetic energy penetrators having different cross-sectional geometrics. The predictions of the depth of penetration were validated against the experimental data. Meanwhile, typical failure modes of targets for different non-circular projectiles are investigated in the simulations. The numerical results show distinct advantage of penetration ability for the non-circular rods at higher velocities. The penetration mechanisms between the non-circular projectiles and the targets become different as the change of the stress distribution exerted on the targets. The phenomenon such as self-sharpening is believed to be the major reason for the enhancement of depth of penetration.