PH4857 Terminal Ballistics and Shock Physics

This course explores the key physics underlying the lethality of conventional weapons. Particular focus is given to two broad areas: armor penetration and damage from shock and blast waves. Detailed topics covered in the course include: an overview of modern warheads; basic mechanics of materials; high strain-rate deformation of materials under intense loading; terminal ballistics of projectiles, ranging from small-caliber rounds up to shaped charge jets; shock waves in solids and spall phenomena; blast waves from explosive charges and nuclear weapons; and underwater weapons effects.

Lecture Hours

4

Lab Hours

2

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

• Understand the fundamental designs of warheads and their applications.
• Understand material constitutive relations and applications with regards to material response in the elastic regime.
• Understand the differences between uniaxial stress and uniaxial strain conditions.
• Understand the three components of the Johnson Cook model and how the model is used to predict strength and failure.
• Understand 1D shock impacts and the interaction between the impactor and target.
• Understand the three 1D Hugoniot conservation equations and how to apply them to determine physical and thermodynamic properties of shocked materials.
• Understand how to determine a Hugoniot equation of state.
• Understand how to apply impedance matching to determine impact pressures and particle velocities.
• Estimate residual velocity and mass for fragments ballistically perforating thin targets.
• Calculate penetration depth for shaped charges and monolithic penetrators into thick armored targets.
• Estimate the penetration depth of ordnance into earth, geomaterials, and concrete structures.
• Calculate the probability of injury for ballistic projectiles impacting the human body.