A simplified approximate model of compressible hypervelocity penetration

A simplified approximate model considering rod/target material’s compressibility is proposed for hypervelocity penetration. We study the effect of shockwaves on hypervelocity penetration whenever the compressibility of the rod is much larger, analogously, and much less than that of the target, respectively. The results show that the effect of shockwaves is insignificant up to 12 km/s, so the shockwave is neglected in the present approximate model. The Murnaghan equation of state is adopted to simulate the material behaviors in penetration and its validity is proved. The approximate model is finally reduced to an equation depending only on the penetration velocity and a simple approximate solution is achieved. The solution of the approximate model is in agreement with the result of the complete compressible model. In addition, the effect of shockwaves on hypervelocity penetration is shown to weaken material’s compressibility and reduce the interface pressure of the rod/target, and thus the striking/protective performance of the rod/target is weakened, respectively. We also conduct an error analysis of the interface pressure and penetration efficiency. With a velocity change of 1.6 times the initial sound speed for the rod or target, the error of the approximate model is very small. For metallic rod–target combinations, the approximate model is applicable even at an impact velocity of 12 km/s.