
374 Ballistics: Theory and Design of Guns and Ammunition
In 1886, DeMarre developed a famous formula for the penetration of a plate given a normal
impact:
mV
t
2
3
14
15
=
α
.
.
(15.8)
where
m is the penetrator mass
V is the impact velocity
d is the diameter of the projectile
t is the plate thickness with α being an empirically derived constant
As a word of caution, many of these formulas are dangerous because of the units in the
empirically derived constant, it is commonplace to see CGS units in these formulas as well.
Over time, many have modied the DeMarre formula and used it in this form
mV
t
2
3
=
α
(15.9)
Here β is an empirically derived consta ...