Effect of thin oblique moving plates on long rod projectiles: A reverse impact study

Abstract

The geometry and motion of long rod projectiles after penetrating thin obliquely oriented and moving armour plates were studied. Plates moving in their normal directions towards as well as away from the projectile (scalar product of velocities negative and positive, respectively) were considered. The influences of plate velocity and obliquity (angle between the normal of the plate and the axis of the projectile) were investigated through small-scale reverse impact tests with tungsten projectiles of length 30 mm and diameter 2 mm, and with 2 mm-thick steel plates. The obliquity (30°, 60° and 70°) and the plate velocity (300 to −300 m/s) were varied systematically for a projectile velocity of 2000 m/s. The disturbing effect of the plate on the projectile was characterised in terms of changes in length, velocity, angular momentum, linear momentum and kinetic energy. Plates with obliquity 60–70° moving away from the projectiles with velocity 200–300 m/s were found to cause extensive fragmentation of the projectile and to have large disturbing effects in terms of all measures used.