Numerical model for penetration process of a deformable projectile into ductile metallic target plate considering the interaction of projectile and target

The interaction of projectile and target in a penetration process is key for precise prediction and safety design. However, this interaction is instantaneous and varying with complex physical phenomena, that induces a challenge of panoramically illustrating the penetration process. This work develops a new numerical model that can capture the penetration process of a deformable projectile impacting ductile target plate and meanwhile the interaction of projectile and target is considered. Here, physical mechanisms are explored and accordingly mathematical derivations for theoretical analysis are carried out. The issues of plastic stress wave, contact stress, shear perforation and energy dissipation are involved. Both the deformation of projectile and failure of target plate are addressed which include the upsetting deformation of projectile, pit-opening performance of target plate and perforation of target plate. This model presents the history of the deformation of projectile and target, velocity evolution, penetration resistance and shear perforation with timing. The modelling results show a high-precision prediction by comparing with experimental data of a flat-ended projectile penetrating Weldox 460E steel target plate [54] and other developed models of plugging failure model [13] and plastic wave model [48] for both cases of 16mm- and 20 mm-thickness target plates. This work offers the comprehensive calculation and analysis of penetration process and reveals the insights of the transient phenomena for impact engineering.