The paper considers the possibility of using compact projectiles formed by an explosion to break through strong steel barriers of finite thickness protected by a layer of water. There is no problem in penetrating such barriers by high-gradient and high-speed shaped-charge jet of a small diameter formed by shaped charges with ‘high’ conical liners, however, the diameter of the through hole formed in the steel barrier is fairly small and does not meet the defeat criteria for corresponding barriers. To increase the diameter of a through hole in a steel barrier, shaped charges with ‘low’ conical or flat hemispherical liners (in the form of a meniscus) forming compact projectiles can be used, but the movement of such ‘shock cores’ in the water layer is sharply slowed down, up to a complete stop even before interacting with the main steel barrier. The purpose of the paper is to substantiate the possibilities of eliminating this disadvantage when using compact projectiles. Based on theoretical and experimental studies, the paper offers a technical solution related to the known fact of the formation of a cavern (gas cavity) during the movement of a shaped-charge jet in water, expanding as the jet penetrates in the radial direction. In this case, if a known tandem scheme of shaped charges placed one after the other along the axis of the explosive device is used, the first shaped charge, often called pre-charge, will penetrate the body in the head part of the explosive device to the water layer, then form in the latter a cavern up to the main penetrable barrier and the second shaped charge, often referred to as the primary, will form a compact projectile moving to penetrable barrier in the cavity formed by the penetration of shaped-precharge jet in the water. At the same time, due to selecting the necessary delay time between the pre-charge and main charge explosions as well as the design parameters of the pre-charge, the size of the expanding cavity must exceed the size of the compact projectile, excluding its interaction with water up to the approach to the penetrable steel barrier.
