Terminal Ballistics of a Reduced-Mass Penetrator.
Abstract
This report presents the results of an experimental program to examine the performance of a reduced-mass concept penetrator impacting semi-infinite rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) at normal incidence. The reduced-mass penetrator ueed in this program is a solid tungsten alloy rod with eight holes drilled parallel to its axis, equally spaced on a circle, with axes parallel to the rod axis. Its performance was contrasted with baseline data for length-to-dameter ratios (L/D) 4 and 5 solid tungsten alloy penetrators. Striking velocity was nominally 1.6 km/s. A determined effort to reduce the scatter in the data by analysis of collateral data from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and literature sources suggested only a rather weak influence of L/D on penetration even at L/Ds approaching 1 and provided a tentative relationship to remove the influence of target lateral edge effects. It tightened up the holed-out rod data enough to be able to conclude with a moderate degree of certainty that there was no improvement in penetration as suggested by a simplistic density law model. A companion work by Kimsey of ARL examines the performance of this novel penetrator concept computationally, using the Eulerian code CTH. His work explains the possible causes of reduced performance suggested by analysis by Zook and Frank of ARL, though with some relative improvement in performance at higher velocities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA310362
Entities
People
- Graham F. Silsby
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory