Jet Penetration of Inerts and Explosives

The penetration velocities of projectiles interacting with explosives initiated by the projectile have been found to be much lower than the penetration velocities of inerts of the same density. Studies of projectile penetration dynamics in inert and reactive targets have been performed using the Eulerian reactive hydrodynamic code 2DE described in Appendix C. 

Using this expression to determine the penetration velocity for a 1 cm/ps steel jet interacting with various targets gives the following results. 

Bernoulli s theorem is for steady motion of an incompressible, uniform fluid. For a compressible fluid, the ideal penetration velocity expression is exact for only a constant density system however, the experimental penetration data from many studies of inert jets penetrating inerts are adequately described using the ideal model. 

The penetration of an aluminum target by an aluminum jet and a steel target by a steel jet were modeled using the particle-in-cell (PIC) technique by Harlow and Pracht. They concluded that their calculated velocities approached the ideal values. 

Copper jet penetration into an aluminum target was calculated by Johnson using his two- and three-dimensional Eulerian hydrodynamic codes. His calculated penetration velocity agreed with the ideal values. 

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The reactive hydrodynamic code 2DE was used to examine the jet penetration of inerts and explosives by Mader, Pimbley, and Bowman . ... 

Animations of jet penetrations of inerts and explosives modeled using the NOBEL code are on the CD-ROM in the MOVIE directory as follows ... 

Charles L. Mader, George H. Pimbley, and Allen L. Bowman, Jet Penetration of Inerts and Explosives , Los Alamos National Laboratory report LA-9527-MS (1982). 

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