Author(s)

Z. Rosenberg & E. Dekel

Abstract

The use of 3D numerical simulations for terminal ballistics has been very fruitful during the past decade, with the advancements of 3D codes, as far as accuracy and computational times are concerned. These simulations enable us to look more carefully at the interaction of projectiles with targets in real situations which include oblique impacts, with or without yaw, at stationary and moving plates. The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of these codes for long rods impacting metallic targets for the purpose of designing reactive armor systems against these rods. Here, we demonstrate how one can answer several questions regarding this interaction without the need for costly and complicated experiments. In particular, the issues of rod disruption, erosion and deflection are highlighted in 3D simulations by changing rod and plate obliquities and velocities, as well as plate thickness and strength. Several experimental results are also presented to demonstrate the validity of code predictions. Keywords: terminal ballistics, long rods, reactive armor. 1 Introduction One of the most important issues in the area of armor technologies concerns the interaction of shaped charge jets and long-rod penetrators with moving plates (reactive armor). The efficiency of relatively thin steel plates, propelled by an explosive layer which is detonated by the impacting jet, has been demonstrated by many workers (see [1-3], for example). Relatively few works have been published on the interaction of long rods and moving plates, probably because this is a much less understood phenomenon, (see [4, 5]). We recently published [6] some of our results on the interaction between a tungsten-alloy rod impacting

Keywords

terminal ballistics, long rods, reactive armor.