Approximate Methods for Understanding and Analysis of Ballistic Impact Phenomena

This work examines simple model approaches to understand and compute projectile and target deformation. Two themes are developed. The first links projectile mushrooming, target plugging and penetration of thick metal targets at high velocities. The second looks at plug separation and target dishing, and extends the concepts developed to the perforation of bi-layer and multilayer metallic targets and fibre composites. It is shown that different physical concepts and analytical approaches may lead to similar quantitive outcomes, and they represent valid alternatives for understanding the mechanics of perforation. Sensitivities of computations to material model assumptions and to the description of target failure are discussed.