Penetration Efficiency as a Function of Target Obliquity and Projectile Pitch

Abstract

The influence of pitch (vertical yaw) angle on the penetration reduction of rod projectiles into oblique targets has been investigated for tungsten sinter alloy rods with a blunt nose and L/D = 20. Semi-infinite RHA targets with an obliquity of 30 deg, 45 deg, and 60 deg were impacted at 1650 m/s. The pitch angles were varied between ±90 deg. The strong asymmetric behavior of the target crater is dependent on whether the pitch is positive or negative relative to the obliquity of the target. The experiments provide a good overview of the penetration characteristics of long rods for the whole pitch angle range. The penetration data are described by empirical relations that show good agreement with the experiments.