Research on the Similarity Law of the Fragmentation Effect of a Reactive Inner Core PELE Penetrating a Steel Plate

This study explores the similarity of the fragmentation effect of a reactive inner core PELE (RIC-PELE) when penetrating a steel plate by measuring the broken length of the jacket after perforating the steel plate and the dispersion radius of the jacket fragments behind the steel plate. Based on the dimensional theory, the dimensionless functions of these two physical quantities were analyzed and established. On the basis of verifying the validity of numerical simulation, the penetration and deflagration damage effects of five scale models were simulated on the ANSYS/Autodyn 17.0 software platform, and the dimensional analysis was verified. In the obtained dimensionless functions, the independent variables are all geometric dimensionless quantities. The simulation results reveal that, within the impact velocity range of 900–1900 m/s, the dimensionless broken length of the jacket and the dimensionless dispersion radius of jacket fragments behind the target are approximately equal in different scale models at the same velocity; these values fall within error margins of ±7% and ±9% of the reference model, respectively, and both dimensionless quantities exhibit an approximately linear positive relationship with impact velocity. This indicates that when ignoring the size effect caused by the strain rate effect of the materials, the geometric similarity law of the fragmentation effect of a RIC-PELE penetrating a steel plate essentially holds, thereby verifying the correctness of the dimensional analysis.