An Experimental Study of Thin Steel Plates Perforated by Conical-Nosed Projectiles

Both quasi-static and impact loading experiments of thin steel plates are performed using conical-nosed projectiles with cone angle of 90. Load-deflection curves and different failure modes are acquired from the quasi-static tests. Membrane analysis and plastic collapse model with pure bending are investigated and compared with the experimental data. It is shown that the membrane force dominates the deformation process for the large deformation of thin plate; with increase of the thickness of plate, the bending moment becomes more and more important. In the impact experiments, the initial and residual velocities with different failure modes are obtained for four plates with different thicknesses, and the critical perforation energies are evaluated. In addition, the experimental data of quasi-static and dynamic tests are compared and discussed.