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The ballistic limit or limit velocity is the velocity required for a particular projectile to reliably (at least 50% of the time) penetrate a particular piece of material. In other words, a given projectile will not pierce a given target when the projectile velocity is lower than the ballistic limit.[1] The term ballistic limit is used specifically in the context of armor; limit velocity is used in other contexts.[1]

The ballistic limit equation for laminates, as derived by Reid and Wen[2] is as follows:


where

  • is the ballistic limit
  • is a projectile constant determined experimentally
  • is the density of the laminate
  • is the static linear elastic compression limit
  • is the diameter of the projectile
  • is the thickness of the laminate
  • is the mass of the projectile

Additionally, the ballistic limit for small-caliber into homogeneous armor by TM5-855-1 is:


where

  • is the ballistic limit velocity in fps
  • is the caliber of the projectile, in inches
  • is the thickness of the homogeneous armor (valid from BHN 360 - 440) in inches
  • is the angle of obliquity
  • is the weight of the projetile, in lbs

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Donald E. Carlucci, Sidney S. Jacobson (2008). Ballistics: Theory and Design of Guns and Ammunition. CRC Press. pp. 310. ISBN 978-1-4200-6618-0. 
  2. SR Reid, HM Wen. "Perforation of FRP laminates and sandwich panels subjected to missile impact". In: SR Reid, G Zhou, editors. "Impact behaviour of fibre-reinforced composite materials and structures". Cambridge: Woodhead Publishers Ltd. 2000. In: G Reyes Villanueva, WJ Cantwell (2004). "The high velocity impact response of composite and FML-reinforced sandwich structures". Composites Science and Technology 64:35-54. doi:10.1016/S0266-3538(03)00197-0.

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Ballistic limit and the edit history here.
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