A review on the mass loss of projectile

The underground targets are usually protected by reinforced concrete and rocks. When they are attacked by projectile, the structure of projectile should keep integral, therefore, an assumption of non-deformable projectile is usually employed in the analysis of terminal ballistics. However, with the impact velocity increasing, the mass loss of projectile becomes unavoidable and it is not proper to treat it as rigid any more. The mass loss of projectile may induce the instability of terminal ballistics of penetrator, and lead to its damage or structural failure. Therefore, it is necessary to study the mechanism of mass loss of projectile. Abrasion and local erosion are supposed as the main reasons of mass loss. A review on mass loss of penetrator, including experimental results, empirical and theoretical analyses and numerical simulations, is presented as it penetrating into cementitious target (concrete, rock, etc.). Finally, some research proposals are given for the further study.