2. Shock and penetration phenomena

2.1 Fundamental principles

The phenomena of impact and penetration can be dealt with in different ways, depending on whether the aim is to determine global quantities such as impact energy or residual velocity after impact, or to assess stresses, strains and deformations in materials locally, with a view to design. There are two main approaches to solving this problem.

The first approach is based on traditional solid mechanics, considering the bodies, projectile and target, as a whole and determining the global physical quantities by applying the conservation of mass, energy and momentum. The models used will be relatively simple to implement, as they apply to systems defined by just a few parameters.

If we also want to study local effects,...