Abstract: The process of the truncated conical kinetic energy projectile penetrating armor at low speed is analyzed by means of numerical simulation and experiment to study the influence of the nose cone angle, forward radius and striking velocity on penetration performance, and the penetration model mostly common used is validated. The results of the numerical simulation show that the nose taper and radius take important roles in penetration performance; the striking velocity significantly affects the penetration depth and penetration overloads and also has some impact on the deformation of projectile. The comparisons of the results of the two methods with that of a theoretical calculation reveal that: numerical simulation results agree well with test results while theoretical calculating results and test results are quite different; suggesting that the penetration model is inapplicable to the penetration problems of large deformations.