A numerical study on the disturbance of explosive reactive armors to jet penetration

The disturbance of flat and V-shaped sandwich reactive armor configurations to shaped-charge jet is studied by a numerical approach. The disturbing and cutting effects of the two reactive armor configurations to the jet are successfully captured. The predicted disturbance characteristics and patterns are in fairly good agreement with the X-ray photographic observations. The residual depth of penetration into a semi-infinitive homogeneous steel target behind the reactive armor is computed for a series of jet/armor parameters. For the flat configuration, it is demonstrated that the residual penetration depth is not significantly reduced for a normal impact while it is reduced up to 75% for an oblique impact. In comparison, the V-shaped configuration reduces the penetration depth of the jet to 90%, and it is observed that the penetration depth is not sensitive to the V-shaped angle.