A study on the failure of circular plates struck by masses. Part 2: theoretical analysis for the onset of failure

A theoretical analysis is presented which examines the petalling failure of thin circular plates struck transversely by a mass, having a conical head and a spherical nose, at the centre of the plates. A failure criterion of plastic work density is employed for predicting the onset of petalling failure. Good agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results has been obtained for the critical impact energy required to cause failure of the plates with various diameters struck transversely by masses with spherical noses having different radii. It has been found that the onset of failure varies significantly with the radius of spherical nose of a drop mass.