Oblique perforation of thick metallic plates by rigid projectiles

Oblique perforation of thick metallic plates by rigid projectiles with various nose shapes is studied in this paper. Two perforation mechanisms, i.e., the hole enlargement for a sharp projectile nose and the plugging formation for a blunt projectile nose, are considered in the proposed analytical model. It is shown that the perforation of a thick plate is dominated by several non-dimensional numbers, i.e., the impact function, the geometry function of projectile, the non-dimensional thickness of target and the impact obliquity. Explicit formulae are obtained to predict the ballistic limit, residual velocity and directional change for the oblique perforation of thick metallic plates. The proposed model is able to predict the critical condition for the occurrence of ricochet. The proposed model is validated by comparing the predictions with other existing models and independent experimental data.