A new analytical model for the low-velocity perforation of thin steel plates by hemispherical-nosed projectiles

•A new method was proposed to determine the radius of the bulging region of the thin steel plates impacted by hemispherical-nosed projectiles.•The whole perforation process was divided into four consecutive stages.•A new model was developed to predict the residual velocities of hemispherical-nosed projectiles that perforate thin steel plates.•Strain rate effects of the target material during each stage were considered.

Ballistic experiments were conducted on thin steel plates that are normally impacted by hemispherical-nosed projectiles at velocities higher than their ballistic limits. The deformation and failure modes of the thin steel plates were analyzed. A new method was proposed according to the experimental results and the perforation phenomenon of the thin steel plates to determine the radius of the bulging region. In establishing this new method, a dynamic method combined with the plastic wave propagation concept based on the rigid plastic assumption was adopted. The whole perforation process was divided into four consecutive stages, namely, bulging deformation, dishing deformation, ductile hole enlargement, and projectile exit. On the basis of the energy conservation principle, a new model was developed to predict the residual velocities of hemispherical-nosed projectiles that perforate thin steel plates at low velocities. The results obtained from the theoretical calculations by the present model were compared with the experimental results. Theoretical predictions were in good agreement with the experimental results in terms of both the radius of the bulging region and the residual velocity of the projectile when the strain rate effects of the target material during each stage were considered.