On the Penetration of Concrete Targets by Non-Rigid Rods

The concept of equivalent aluminum targets, which was recently introduced for concrete penetration by rigid ogive-nosed projectiles, is applied in this work to non-rigid rods impacting concrete targets at a large range of impact velocities. We demonstrate the validity of this concept and its usefulness by comparing simulation results for the equivalent-aluminum targets with test data for concrete targets impacted by high velocity non-rigid steel rods. The depths of penetration in the concrete targets and the various modes of rod behavior, from rigid to eroding, are reproduced by these simulations. It turns out that concrete and metallic targets behave in a similar way under the impact of non-rigid rods at various velocities, as they do under the impact of rigid projectiles at ordnance velocities.