Theoretical analysis of the disturbance of shaped charge jet penetrating a woven fabric rubber composite armor

• A theoretical model is developed to calculate the deformation of a jet.
• Jet deformation depends on the axial velocity, disturbed region and lateral force.
• The plate moving velocity is an important factor that affects the lateral force.
• Jet deformation in the X-ray radiograph is consistent with the calculation results.
• The time differences of the disturbances are lying in the band between 2 μs and 5 μs.

The disturbance of a shaped charge jet by explosive reactive or typical composite armors is usually caused by the interaction of the jet with the moving plates. The interest to study the disturbance and deformations of jets more extensively was prompted by the knowledge that such disturbances weaken the residual penetration capabilities of the jets. In this paper, a theoretical model was developed to calculate the deformation of a jet subjected to lateral disturbance. Analysis showed that jet deformation strongly depends on the jet axial velocity, the disturbed region and the lateral force. The lateral force exerted on the jet by the moving plate was estimated by analyzing the interaction process between the jet and the movement of plate. The effect of the plate velocity on the lateral pressure was also discussed in this paper. The variation of lateral pressures had a significant effect on the deformation of the jet. An X-ray experiment was conducted to analyze the defeat mechanism of the Kevlar woven fabric rubber composite armor against the shaped charge jet. The time differences of disturbances were calculated based on the velocity differences of a neighboring disturbed jet. Finally, the jet deformation of the entire disturbed region was presented by combining the jet axial velocity with the disturbed region, which was measured by the X-ray radiograph. The theoretical results exhibited very good agreement with the experimental results.