Jet formation and penetration mechanism of W typed shaped charge

Existing classical shaped charges are well known for their longer jets capable of achieving large hole depth to hole diameter ratios in metallic targets. However, in some situations, there arises demand to obtain 1:1 ratio for hole depth to hole diameter which is beyond normal shaped charges capability. A new variant of shape charge, named W typed shape charge (WSC), is proposed in this paper, which can meet the demand of 1:1 ratio, and is based on the geometry that can produce annular jets upon proper initiation scheme. In this paper, we present formation and penetration results of WSC based on three different schemes. We also show that not all WSC designs can form annular jets, only annularly initiated WSC, which also fulfils the “Internal-External Liners Equal-Impulse” criterion, has the capability to form annular jet. The experimental and numerical results show that when the ratio between annular initiation ring diameter and the charge diameter is 0.75, an annular jet is formed, which was also supported by high speed photographs performed in vacuum. 2D numerical simulations are performed with indigenously developed simulation software, where Eulerian approach with multi-material interface tracking algorithm is utilized, to find various mechanisms involved during jet formation process. The calculation results are found in good agreement with the experimental results, indicating that the interface treatment algorithm proposed in this paper can not only deal with large deformation problem, but also depict clearly the variation of materials interface. It is especially suitable for simulation of the process from liner collapse to formation of shaped charge jet. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10625208).