Effect of frictional force and nose shape on axisymmetric deformations of a thick thermoviscoplastic target (Q1912985)

We study thermomechanical deformations of a thermally softening viscoplastic thick target impacted at normal incidence by a cylindrical rod made of a material considerably harder than the target material. Thus we regard the penetrator to be rigid and analyze the effect of the penetrator nose shape and the frictional force at the target/penetrator interface on target's deformations. In the postulated expression for the frictional force, the coefficient of friction, defined as the ratio of the tangential force at a point to the normal force there, is a function of the relative speed of sliding between the two bodies. The computed depth of penetration is found to match very well with that observed in experiments.