A review of some non-traditional applications of the engineering theory of high-speed penetration

In this review, the traditional tasks of high-speed penetration are defined as tasks aimed at describing the movement of penetrators in monolithic barriers and determining integral characteristics of penetration, such as the depth of penetration into a semi-infinite shield or the ballistic limit when penetrating the barrier of finite thickness. Most of the papers on penetration mechanics dedicated to such problems are based on experimental and numerical methods; many of them are based on the use of analytical methods. Tasks that do not fall into this category will be referred to as non-traditional; this review is dedicated to them, with the main emphasis on tasks for the study of which the use of analytical methods or the potential and feasibility of using them has been characteristic. These are the tasks of penetration into non-monotonic barriers (multilayer layers with adjacent layers or with air gaps between them); the task of optimizing the shape of the strikers; the task of modeling and optimizing the "active" penetration when controlling the movement of the penetrator (the use of impactor with jet thruster to increase the penetration depth with retaining the integrity of the penetrator when getting soil samples from the surface of the planets or when delivering explosives to the object of destruction; the use of artillery for driving piles); the effectiveness analysis of segmented impactors (impactors with spaced elements); and others. An important feature of the review is the desire to highlight the characteristic methodological features of the implemented approaches, which are often hidden behind the list of research results. The material presented in the review covers promising areas of research and designed to facilitate orientation in the relevant topics, in particular, to select a revevant topic of the thesis, which is of both theoretical and practical interest.