Structural response measurements to insure penetrator data integrity

Measurements made by a penetrator structure penetration of some medium may not measure the penetration environment directly. In general, the measurements quantify the penetrator`s structural response to the penetrator force environment. This paper reports laboratory testing and analysis techniques that have been used to identify and/or remove highly nonlinear responses which can mask the penetration environments one desires to measure. Results for two penetrator structures are presented. For the first penetrator, shock testing was conducted to determine the cause of accelerometer failure during field tests. For a second penetrator, shock testing was conducted to assist with the interpretation of accelerometer measurements made during field tests for which the penetrator was instrumented with one axial accelerometer. Very high acceleration levels for a data bandwidth of DC to 70 kHz were recorded in these field tests. The laboratory test results for these two penetrators are presented and discussed.