Petalling of a thin metal plate struck by a conical-nosed projectile

A theoretical study is presented herein on the petalling of a fully-clamped thin metal plate struck by a rigid conical-nosed projectile. It is assumed that the energy absorbed in the petalling process consists of two parts, one part is due to the local deformation during the hole formation and the other is from the global response such as bending and membrane stretching. Various energy absorbing mechanisms are delineated and an approximate equation for the ballistic limit is obtained. It transpires that the predictions from the present model are in good agreement with test data available when the sensitivity of the strain rate of the material is taken into account.