Effect of liner material and explosive type on penetration effectiveness of shaped charge

Abstract

Shaped charges are used in many civilian and military applications. This study focuses on the effects of liner material and the type of explosive on the development of shaped charge jet. This was carried out by experimentation and numerical finite element-based modelling. Shaped charges were tested on a steel plate during the experimentation and the experimental data were used to validate the developed numerical model of the shaped charge. A hydrocode-based finite element model was able to predict the perforation and jet formation for the shaped charge, as well as the characteristics of the holes formed in the target plate. Several variations of the numerical model with the change of liner material and the filled explosive showed that the higher explosive resulted in higher velocity jet. The jet formation and velocity of jet were compared to determine the better performing combination of the material and explosive for the given shaped charge geometry. The underlying mechanisms were discussed in detail and compared with the previous studies.