Some Observations on the Strength of Failed Ceramic

of high-velocity impact. Included are results of recent computations that provide good agreement with a variety of test data, as well as an explanation of the techniques used to represent the damage and stnngth of the ceramic BS it transitions from intact to failed material. For most of the examples noted in this article the damage and failed strength are determined from impact and penetration computations, and are not measured directly fiom laboratory tests. Some direct test data for failed ceramics have been generated and nporttd in the literature; they tend to show a great deal of scatter, they tend to not cover the range of pressures and other variables experienced during high-velocity impact and penetration, and they are generally not in agreement with the corresponding data obtained from the computations. Some observations are presented to explain some of these apparent discrepancies and to show the relative effects of intact strength, failed strength and damage.