Formation and impact-induced separation of tandem EFPs

The formation and separation behaviors of tandem EFPs are studied by the combination of experiments and simulations. The results show that different formation and separation processes can be obtained by adjusting the double-layer liners, and simulations agree with experiments well. Then, the interaction process between the two liners is discussed in details, and the formation and separation mechanism are revealed. It can be found that there are four phases in the formation and separation processes, including impact phase, propulsion phase, slide phase and free flight phase. During the impact phase, the velocities of two liners rise in turns with kinetic energy exchange. In the propulsion phase, the axial impact becomes insignificant, but the radial interaction between two liners influences the appearance of tandem EFPs. Meanwhile, it should be mentioned that the inner surface of foregoing EFP remains to be in contact with the outer surface of following EFP in the propulsion phase, and the following one would continue to push the foregoing one for about 10μ to 20 μs, causing the velocities of following and foregoing EFPs gradually decreasing and increasing respectively. In the slide phase, an obvious relative movement occurs between the two EFPs, and there would be barely kinetic energy exchange. Then, the two EFPs separate gradually and get into the phase of free flight. Generally, if the outer and inner liners have the same thickness, the outer copper-inner copper liners form two long EFPs, the outer copper-inner steel liners become a foregoing short steel EFP and a following long copper EFP, and the outer steel-inner copper liners produce a foregoing long copper EFP and a following conical steel EFP. In addition, thickness match also has an important impact on formation appearance and separation process for both outer copper-inner copper liners and outer steel-inner copper liners. With the thickness ratio of outer liner to inner liner decreasing, the length and length-diameter ratio of both foregoing and following EFPs increase gradually.