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Sand Penetration: A Near Nose Investigation Of A Sand Penetration Event, Andrew Van Vooren, John Borg, Joshua Felts

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents experimental and computational results of a long-rod penetrating dry granular sand at velocities near 100 m/s. The objective of this work is to develop a fundamental understanding of the formation and transmission of dynamic force chains, and the motion and fracture of the individual sand grains as the projectile passes. This is accomplished by launching a projectile along a view window, backed by sand, in order to directly view and photograph the projectile/sand interactions. Within the sand system, a two-wave structure was observed, composed of a compaction wave (bow shock) that detaches from the dart and moves …