A UNIFIED THEORY OF PENETRATION (U)

Today's weapons employ compact fragments as well as long rods and shaped)charge jets.
From
the viewpoint of an armor designer, it is desirable to have a method of dealing with all
three types of penetrator both in theory and in practice,
This report presents an equation of motion which in its most general form describes
penetration by a forming, stretching, eroding jet.
In various specialized forms, it
describes penetration by pre-formed rods and compact projectiles.
One specialized form
reduces to the classical jet penetration formula according to which penetration in a se,ni-
infinite target is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the jet and target
densities.
A correction for target hardness is automatically included.
The solutions of
the various forms of the equation of motion are given explicitly in closed form and are
profusely illustrated
by numerical examples and comparisons with experimental data.