Study of the Crater Produced by Hypervelocity Tungsten Alloy Projectile into Concrete Target

In order to explore the cratering mechanism of concrete targets undergoing hypervelocity impact, experiments were carried out by two-stage light gas gun with Gram-grade cylindrical tungsten alloy projectiles, impacting concrete targets at velocities from 1.97 to 3.66 km/s. Experimental data of crater were obtained by computerized tomography (CT). Dimensionless analyses based on point source solution were used to further analyze the mechanism of hypervelocity impact. The results showed that: the craters were structured by spalling areas and bullet holes; the body penetration stage occupied a large proportion of the total penetration depth, so that the penetration depth was not positively related to the kinetic energy. The dimension of the cubic crater diameter and the crater volume are proportional to the kinetic energy of the projectiles, which indicates that the cratering process is mainly affected by the kinetic energy.