Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Advertisement

Scientific Reports
  • View all journals
  • Search
  • My Account Login
  • Content Explore content
  • About the journal
  • Publish with us
  • Sign up for alerts
  • RSS feed
  1. nature
  2. scientific reports
  3. articles
  4. article
Non-ideal penetration of shaped charge jet into spaced plate based on drift velocity and gap effects
Download PDF
Download PDF
  • Article
  • Open access
  • Published: 20 February 2026

Non-ideal penetration of shaped charge jet into spaced plate based on drift velocity and gap effects

  • Q. Q. Xiao1,
  • X. D. Zu1,
  • Z. X. Huang1,
  • T. A. Chen2,
  • X. Jia1,
  • B. Ma1,
  • Y. P. Tan3 &
  • …
  • Y. C. Wang1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

  • 9 Accesses

  • Metrics details

We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Engineering
  • Physics

Abstract

An ideal jet that does not deviate from the charge axis is unrealistic due to manufacturing imperfections and jet fracture. At a large stand-off, the penetration depth of the jet particles that deviate from the charge axis is significantly reduced. The penetration process of a shaped charge jet into spaced plates with large spacings can be thought of as the residual jet passing through the front plate into the subsequent plate at various stand-off distances. Ideal jet theory significantly overestimates the penetration performance of shaped charge jets into spaced plates. This study systematically investigated the drift velocity and gap effects that govern shaped charge jet penetration through spaced plate configurations. A novel theoretical penetration model that incorporates non-ideal flow characteristics has been developed to quantitatively describe the interactions of a shaped charge jet with multiple spaced plates. Due to the combined effects of a high drift velocity and a large stand-off distance, it is impossible for low-velocity jet particles to traverse through spaced plates and reach the witness plate. Experimental results indicated that the tail of a shaped charge jet with a low velocity does not contribute to the penetration process and has no impact on the penetration depth of the witness plate. The non-ideal jet penetration model can accurately predict the velocity range of the shaped charge jet as it passes through spaced plates as well as the penetration depth of the residual jet on the witness plate.

Similar content being viewed by others

Study on jet dynamic impact performance under the influence of standoff

Article Open access 28 December 2024

Study on prediction method of parameters behind target of jet under dynamic conditions

Article Open access 24 November 2025

Effect of explosives charges types on the jet characteristics, penetration performance and fragmentation patterns of shaped charges

Article Open access 01 November 2024

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

References

  1. Sun, T. et al. Penetration-deflagration coupling damage performance of rod-like reactive shaped charge penetrator impacting thick steel plates. Def. Technol. (2025) (in press).

  2. Żochowski, P. & Warchoł, R. Experimental and numerical study on the influence of shaped charge liner cavity filing on jet penetration characteristics in steel targets. Def. Technol. 23, 60–74 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Yin, X. X. et al. Mechnism and maximum interference model of functionally graded concrete with liquid composite aggregates subjected to shaped charge jet penetration. Constr. Build. Mater. 476, 141183 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Xu, H. Q. et al. Significantly improved penetration performance of intermetallic-compound-contained Ti–Al–Nb alloy shaped charge liner against reinforced concrete targets. Mater. Des. 221, 110997 (2022).

  5. Gu, Y. C. et al. Formation characteristics and penetration performance of an underwater shaped charge jet. Ocean Eng. 258, 111695 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cao, C. et al. Study on the formation characteristics of underwater hemispherical shaped charge jet and its penetration performance into concrete. Def. Technol. 47, 180–196 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Galante, E., Haddad, A. & Marques, N. Application of explosives in the oil industry. Int. J. Oil Gas Coal Eng. 1 (2), 16–22 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bi, G. et al. Dynamic simulation of double-cased perforation in deepwater high temperature and high-pressure oil and gas wells. Pet. Sci. 21 (5), 3482–3495 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Fedorov, S. V. et al. Combined shaped-charge liners for explosion formation of aluminum particles with velocities up to 16km/s. Acta Astronaut. 190, 231–240 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kolpakov, V. I. et al. Selection of shaped charge parameters for producing aluminum particle with velocities in the range of 2.5-16km/s. Def. Technol. 38, 126–135 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fedorov, S. V. & Bolotina, I. A. & Merzlyakova, P. V. Producing compact copper elements in the velocity range of 5-9.5km/s using shaped charges with modified combined hemisphere-cylinder liners. J. Space Saf. Eng.

  12. Held, M. Characterizing shaped charge performance by stand-off behavior. In 7th International Symposium on Ballistics, The Hague, The Netherlands, April 19–23, 331–339 (1983).

  13. Liu, B. B. et al. Spaced armor effects on shaped charge jet penetration.Propellants Explosives Pyrotech. 40, 127–132 (2015).

  14. Zu, X. D. et al. Theoretical study on equivalent target of ceramic composite armor. Propellants Explosives Pyrotech. 40, 576–582 (2015).

  15. Segletes, S. B. Drift Velocity Computations for Shaped-Charge Jets. Ballistic Research Laboratory, Memorandum Report ARBRL-MR-003306 (1983).

  16. Coppinger, M. J. & Uhlig, W. C. Simulating lateral drift of a shaped charge jet in ALEGRA. Int. J. Impact Eng. 136, 103415 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Chou, P. C. & Flis, W. J. Recent developments in shaped charge technology. Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 11 (4), 99–114 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Hancock, S. L. An extension of the Umin model for cutoff of high precision jets. Int. J. Impact Eng. 26, 289–298 (2001).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Xiao, Q. Q. et al. Influence of drift velocity and distance between jet particles on the penetration depth of shaped charges. Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 41, 76–83 (2016).

  20. Xiao, Q. Q. et al. Shaped charge penetration into high- and ultrahigh-strength steel-fiber reactive powder concrete targets. Def. Technol. 16, 217–224 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Zheng, Z. M. Stability of jet produced by shaped charge. Explos. Shock Wave. 1, 6–17 (1981). (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Xiao, Q. Q. et al. Calculation of depth and crater diameter for the supersonic penetration of shaped charge jet into concrete. Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 38(2), 224–231 (2013).

  23. Xiao, Q. Q. et al. Shaped charge penetrator into soil-concrete double-layered target. Int. J. Impact Eng. 109, 302–310 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Xiao, Q. Q. et al. Penetration research of jacketed jet into concrete. Int. J. Impact Eng. 54, 246–253 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Nanjing University of Science and Technology (CN) through Grant No. 30924010803 and the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.12302471).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing, 210094, China

    Q. Q. Xiao, X. D. Zu, Z. X. Huang, X. Jia, B. Ma & Y. C. Wang

  2. Project Management Center of Equipment Development Department, Aimin Street 2, Beijing, 100034, China

    T. A. Chen

  3. School of Information Technology, Jiangsu Open University (The City Vocational College of Jiangsu), Xuzhou, China

    Y. P. Tan

Authors
  1. Q. Q. Xiao
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. X. D. Zu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Z. X. Huang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. T. A. Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. X. Jia
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. B. Ma
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Y. P. Tan
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Y. C. Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization, Q.X.; methodology, Q.X. and X.Z.; software, X.J.; validation, T.C. and Y.T.; formal analysis, Q.X. and X.Z.; investigation, T.C. and Y.C.; data curation, X.J.; writing—original draft preparation, Q.X.; writing—review and editing, Z.W., X.Z. and Z.H.; supervision, Z.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to X. D. Zu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xiao, Q.Q., Zu, X.D., Huang, Z.X. et al. Non-ideal penetration of shaped charge jet into spaced plate based on drift velocity and gap effects. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39841-5

Download citation

  • Received: 21 October 2025

  • Accepted: 09 February 2026

  • Published: 20 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39841-5

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Keywords

  • Shaped charge jet
  • Spaced plate
  • Penetration
  • Radial drift velocity
  • Gap effects
Download PDF

Advertisement

Explore content

  • Research articles
  • News & Comment
  • Collections
  • Subjects
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on X
  • Sign up for alerts
  • RSS feed

About the journal

  • About Scientific Reports
  • Contact
  • Journal policies
  • Guide to referees
  • Calls for Papers
  • Editor's Choice
  • Journal highlights
  • Open Access Fees and Funding

Publish with us

  • For authors
  • Language editing services
  • Open access funding
  • Submit manuscript

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Find a job
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies

Scientific Reports (Sci Rep)

ISSN 2045-2322 (online)

nature.com sitemap

About Nature Portfolio

  • About us
  • Press releases
  • Press office
  • Contact us

Discover content

  • Journals A-Z
  • Articles by subject
  • protocols.io
  • Nature Index

Publishing policies

  • Nature portfolio policies
  • Open access

Author & Researcher services

  • Reprints & permissions
  • Research data
  • Language editing
  • Scientific editing
  • Nature Masterclasses
  • Research Solutions

Libraries & institutions

  • Librarian service & tools
  • Librarian portal
  • Open research
  • Recommend to library

Advertising & partnerships

  • Advertising
  • Partnerships & Services
  • Media kits
  • Branded content

Professional development

  • Nature Awards
  • Nature Careers
  • Nature Conferences

Regional websites

  • Nature Africa
  • Nature China
  • Nature India
  • Nature Japan
  • Nature Middle East
  • Privacy Policy
  • Use of cookies
  • Legal notice
  • Accessibility statement
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Your US state privacy rights
Springer Nature

© 2026 Springer Nature Limited

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing