Penetration of a Rate Sensitive Geological Target by the Compaction Ring Theory

In an earlier paper, the authors presented a theory for the penetration of geologically based semi-infinite targets [5]. This theory was suitable for application to targets in which compaction due to the crushing of voids is the primary deformation mechanism. This phenomenon has been observed in concrete targets with a ring of dense material around the tunnel region, see figure 1 for a cat scan of a concrete target after penetration. This was the motivation for the model development. A number of simplifying assumptions were made in the application of the theory to data from concrete penetration experiments. One of the assumptions was that the target strength was constant, or independent of strain and strain rate. This assumption leads to generally consistent results for the same ogive nose geometry. However, it was noted that there was a discrepancy between the strength predictions when two different ogive nose geometries were used. This paper investigates the discrepancy by assuming that the target material is rate sensitive. The results indicate that the strain rates in the target are indeed affected by the nose geometry. A detailed analysis for a target material with linear rate sensitivity is provided in the paper and the results provide a favorable comparison with available experimental evidence.