Penetration Mechanics 

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) has been involved in penetration mechanics for over 30 years, including experimental, analytical, and computational studies. The staff is internationally recognized for their contributions to fundamental and applied understanding of the mechanics and physics of penetration.

An integrated approach—experimentation, numerical simulation, and analytical modeling—is used to investigate and solve fundamental and applied problems in penetration mechanics. High-speed diagnostics and a wide variety of launchers are used to support experimental studies. Demonstrated capabilities include sabot design and fabrication for a wide range of projectiles from irregular-shaped objects to long rods with high aspect ratios (L/D ≤30). A complementary high-rate materials laboratory allows material characterization and determination of computational constitutive constants.

Applications and Experience

Long-rod projectile sabot (top) and a flash radiograph of the sabot opening in flight

• Low-speed impact

• Small arms

• Anti-tank kinetic energy projectiles

• Advanced penetrator concepts

• Shaped-charge jet formation and penetration

• Penetration efficiency assessment

• Hypervelocity impact

Facilities

• Indoor ballistics range
• 20/30-mm high-performance gun system
• 50-mm high-performance cannon (impact velocities up to ~2.0 km/s)
• Outdoor test areas, up to 1,000 yards
• Fully equipped instrumentation trailer (high- speed data acquisition of pressure, strain, displacement, etc.)
• Flash radiography
• High-speed video (up to 60,000 frames per second)
• Ultra-high-speed digital imaging (up to 100 million frames per second)

Numerical parametric study of increasing projectile strength: L/D 10 tungsten alloy projectile impacting a hard armor steel target at 1.5 km/s (t = 75 μ/s)

Flash radiograph of armor-piercing bullet impacting a ceramic/metal substrate target

Comparison of numerical simulations to experiment of a 7.62-mm APM2 bullet impacting (at muzzle velocity) a B4C/6061-T6 Al armor

Normalized penetration efficiency vs. impact velocity for three different L/D ratio projectiles

Penetration channel for an L/D 30 tungsten-alloy projectile into an armor steel target

This flyer was published in April 2009. For more information about Penetration Mechanics, contact Charles Anderson, Jr., Ph.D., (210) 522-2313 or Dr. J. D. Walker, Ph.D., (210) 522-2051, Mechanical Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510.

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