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A study led by Assistant Professor Darren Chian Siau Chen from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Engineering has found that when a projectile is fired at a sand block at high speed, it absorbs more than 85 per cent of the energy exerted against it. This ability to resist the impact increases with the speed of the projectile, even at high velocities.
While sand has been used traditionally for military fortification, very little is known about the unique energy absorption capability of the material. In a recent study, a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Faculty of Engineering found that sand can absorb more than 85 per cent of the energy exerted against it, and its ability to resist the impact increases with the speed of the projectile, even at high velocities. In contrast, steel plates have poorer energy absorption capacity against high speed projectiles. This novel finding suggests that sand can potentially be used as a cheaper, lighter and more environmentally friendly alternative to enhance protection of critical infrastructure as well as armour systems.
[Editor's note: We've previously discussed an impending shortage of sand..]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday December 13 2016, @01:30AM
I'm pretty sure that 1cm of sand will leave you a lot more dead than 1cm of steel,
According to the study, it depends on the projectile velocity. That is, a fast enough bullet could penetrate the steel while being stopped by the sand.
It's somewhat similar to how capes were used for by samurais [wikipedia.org] or how the T-34's curves deflected HEAT warheads from reaching the perpendicular angle necessary for the shape charges's piezoelectric fuses to trigger correctly.
Anyhow, similar results were found with regards to the 5.56 vs 7.62 debates and the composite armors used against them.
Regardless, you'd likely want modern bunkers to have layers of sand and concrete to trigger the warheads early anyhow. Maybe throw in a few 30 degrees plates in the sand to mess up the angles... But, that's enough arm-chair military engineering from me for today.
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