BAZOOKA vs TIGER | Shaped Charge Simulation | M6A3 HEAT Rocket

The Bazooka was one of the first man-portable anti-tank rocket launchers; designed by the Americans in mid-WW2, the rocket utilised a shaped charge warhead, capable of penetrating 3-4" (76-102mm) of armour.

A shaped charge, or High Explosive Anti Tank warhead, functions by using a high explosive to collapse and accelerate a conical liner. This liner becomes a hypervelocity jet, penetrating armour under extreme pressure over a very small area. The M6A3 was a later model of bazooka rocket, using improved fins, a copper liner instead of steel, and a rounded head for a lower chance of ricocheting.

This model was made in 2D as an extremely fine mesh is needed for the liner, with 2D reducing the computational power required. The model also has a deformed nose due to the impact, as the M6A3 used an inertial firing pin to detonate the charge (meaning the rocket must decelerate upon impact). Most modern HEAT rockets use an electrical trigger.

[SYsimulations]

I'll be doing more HEAT videos in the future but they'll all be 2D due to computational reasons. Hope you enjoyed and/or learnt something

[wj]

I’m gonna just show this to people instead of sitting there for 10 minutes trying to explain how HEAT warheads work. Amazing simulation! Keep on keeping on.

[kireta]

To put it into perspective, Bazooka gave infantrymen armor defeating capability of 75-76mm field guns like ZiS-3, or medium anti-tank gun like QF 6-pdr. A huge improvement in their self-defence capability from having - at best - anti-tank hand grenades

[MegaJani]

This is one of the best HEAT simulation I've seen yet, nice work.

[BlacktailDefense]

The HEAT warhead of the 66mm Bazooka could indeed penetrate 100mm RHAe, but it was only able to do so during testing; rockets launched in combat only had a fraction of that penetration.

The way the Bazooka had been tested saw the flight capabilities and the warheads tested separately --- and never together --- due to a lab testing mindset within the US Army. The warheads were duct-taped to armor slabs and exploded by remote control, resulting in impressive penetration. Thing is though, the M6 Rocket didn't deliver the same punch in combat, and even Panzer IVs proved difficult to destroy with Bazookas.

The failure to comprehend the need to perform genuine live-fire testing with real "war shots" camouflaged a mission-breaking defect in the Bazooka's design, in that the rocket spun rapidly in flight (the M6 Rocket was spin-stabilized, not drag-stabilized like most of today's rockets), and this caused the copper jet to literally spin itself apart when forming the penetrator. Even though the copper was still rock solid, the immense forces that formed the penetrator caused it to move and shape itself as though it was fluid, and when you spin a fluid mass rapidly, it'll spin-apart. The US Army didn't realize this until they started testing HEAT rounds during the 1950s, and they tested the same munitions both on static test rigs, and in flight. The discrepency was noted immediately, and it was a "light bulb" moment for the Army.

[peasant]

I was afraid such resource intensive simulation would crash midway through the process, like it happened in Dejmian's case. Glad you were able to find a workaround. It was interesting to see.

[a_shovel]

It looks like about half the penetration distance comes from tiny fragments of the copper jet after it breaks up. You can see the hole jump forward as each droplet hits the armor. That's really cool.

[JeffBilkins]

Can we do a simulation on WW2 tanks with added improvised armor? Like you see on pictures: track-links, sandbags, wood etc, and the Tank Museum has a Stug with a slab of concrete on it.

I always wondered if that kind of stuff actually does anything for either regular AP or shaped charge like this.

[snappie]

I was expecting the bazooka getting shot in the armor and not the rocket

[phial]

this was really cool and it makes me curious to see more efficient HEAT warhead designs that dont leave such a chunk of copper lagging behind
its also really cool seeing the plume of pentolite expand almost immedeatly once it penetrated

[MBOmnis]

I like how the inside of the Tiger is listed as the _void_

[gareththompson]

That just barely gets through. You can see the jet really struggling to get through those last few millimeters. But it gets through, and for HEAT it seems that barely getting through is just as good as easily getting through (either way the other side gets absolutely showered in metal particles). This explains why bazookas can absolutely shred Tigers if they can hit the 80mm side armor, but will do nothing when they hit the only slightly thicker 100mm front armor.

[moosiemoose]

WOW, that's a really cool simulation.

[hans-joachimtenhoope]

One of the few accurate depictions of how a hollow charge works, including the required stand-off distance between the shaped charge and the armor.
20+ years ago you could read information like this in every library, but looking it up on the Internet now a days makes a lot of people paranoid...

[SwissAdmiral]

been wanting this for a while. Thanks for the great vid!

[ericstefko]

Wow half way through it looked like there was no way it was going to penetrate, that was really amazing to see

[uhjhyujhi]

finally, someone who answers the real burning questions with these simulations.

[loganlee]

Panzerfaust and bazookas came out almost at the same time and really revolutionised anti tank warfare. Until 1942, infantry really had limited options to stop a tank: anti tank rifles were already outdated by the beginning of the war as they were effective only against early models of light tanks. Sticking explosives directly on the tanks (mines) could be effective but required to get really close to the tank and the chances to catch a bullet were great. Molotovs had a limited effect and needed to be thrown precisely at the tanks weak spots. These new HEAT warheads gave soldiers the abilities to destroy even heavy tanks and could be used at a comfy range. Urban warfare quickly became a nightmare for tanks crew.

[smortstonk]

Would the spaced armor on the Panzer IV help protect against a HEAT charge? The odds are slim but I'm still curious.

[SgtMjr]

There is a static display in the Aberdeen Proving Ground Museum building of a shaped charge penetration of blocks of armor plate that is almost 2 feet long. The charge penetrated multiple blocks of armor that were cut to show how the penetration formed and it looked exactly like what is shown in this video in cross-section ending in a little puddle of melted steel in the last block.