Terminal ballistics
This project deals extensively
with the field of ballistics and the sub-field of terminal ballistics in
particular. The ballistic science can be split into three general research
areas. The first of these areas is
called internal ballistics and is concerned with projectiles that are still in
the launcher. Exterior ballistics deals with projectiles during unrestricted
flight. The final third research area that is of particular importance to this
thesis is terminal ballistics. Terminal ballistics deals with the collision between
the projectile and the target.
The Ballistic Scenario
The ballistic scenario that will be of interest to us at the early stages of the project will involve a square target and a projectile (initially spherical) moving on a line that is normal to the plane of the plate. Although at the projectile velocities that we will be considering, the plastic deformations only occur in a narrow region around the impact area (approximately in a one diameter region) the target that is going to be modeled will be fairly larger. This is a precaution to eliminate the undesirable effects caused by the elastic deformation waves that propagate from the impact location towards the edges. These waves can be reflected of the fixed edges and can therefore influence the failure mechanism at the centre. Although this can be a realistic situation the initial model is aiming to present a simplified situation that can easily be validated using experimental or analytical results.
|