Damage resulting from a high-speed projectile impacting a liquid-filled metal tank

摘要

A comprehensive experimental and computational investigation was undertaken to better understand and predict the mechanisms of damage and failure of metal tanks filled with liquid after being impacted by a single high-speed projectile. Impact tests were conducted for a variety of target/projectile orientations and aim points. The speed of the projectile varied from subsonic, relative to the sound speed of the liquid fill, to supersonic. The target tanks, composed of steel or aluminum, were filled with a variety of fluids ranging from Newtonian fluids to thickened paste. The projectiles were aluminum or lead. Tests at impact velocities up to 4.1 km/s were conducted at the University of Alabama in Huntsville Aerophysics Research Center. Orthogonal x-rays, radar, and strain and pressure gauges were used to characterize the impact event and the resulting state of the debris. Slower (subsonic) impact velocities were generated using a high-powered rifle. Experimental tests were computationally reproduced at the Naval Surface Warfare Center using CTH, an Eulerian shock physics hydrodynamic code to augment data in the test series and to validate the use of such codes for this application. Computational and experimental tests were compared to a published database of work compiled over the last 35 years. A damage criterion was selected from the database, and the independent variable set of pre-stress and kinetic energy delivered was selected for data comparison. Current tests differ from published tests in that current tests were conducted on the extreme ends of the independent variable set. Trends observed in previous tests extend through and correctly predict the damage caused to tanks on the extreme ends of the loading set.