Influence of the mass of energetic material and stand-off distance on the performance of perforator charges

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the influence of the mass of Energetic Material (EM) and the relevant stand-off distance on the perforator charge performance has been investigated experimentally and numerically. An experimental program has been conducted, in which perforator charges have been constructed using different masses of an EM; where the relevant stand-off distances for the perforator charges have been changed accordingly. The constructed perforator charges with 33 mm in diameters are statically exploded against 1006 steel target and the depth of jet penetration for each tested perforator charge has been measured. Moreover, Autodyn-2D hydrocode is fed with the data of the constructed perforator charges to simulate their jet formation and its penetration process into 1006 steel target. The hydrocode predicts the dependence of the resultant jet velocity and its penetration depth into 1006 steel target on the mass of EM and the relevant stand-off distance. This dependence has also been confirmed by the corresponding static test results of small diameters perforator charges. Results show that the measured penetration depth increases from 11.0 to 13.7cm into 1006 steel target when the mass of EM increases from 36 to 41g and the relevant standoff distance decreases from 25.6 to 22.6 mm then; the penetration depth decreases again due to the limited standoff distance maintained for the tested perforator charges.