Dynamic shear rupture of steel plates

Metallic sandwich panels with prismatic cores offer the potential for superior blast resistance relative to monolithic plates of equivalent areal density. However, under sufficiently high impulse, severe plastic strains can occur at the junctions of the face sheets and the core members shortly after arrival of the pressure wave but prior to significant deformation elsewhere. The potential consequence is localized shear rupture with minimal plastic dissipation. To characterize this failure mode, a combined experimental-numerical protocol has been used to ascertain the plastic strain for dynamic shear rupture of ductile metals. The experimental component involves firing cylindrical projectiles through plates of the targeted materials and monitoring changes in projectile velocity during penetration. With appropriate combinations of plate thickness and projectile velocity, penetration occurs through propagation of an annular shear crack. In parallel, a numerical model of dynamic deformation and rupture has been employed to infer the critical strain through comparisons with projectile velocity change measurements. Experiments and analyses have been performed on both 304 stainless steel and superaustenitic AL6XN. Effects of mesh size on the resolution of the predicted strain distribution and the plastic dissipation associated with penetration are addressed.