Abstract For protective structures, concrete is the commonly used material. These protective structures are usually exposed to a dynamic loading rather than static loading which arises from either explosions or penetration of projectiles. Military protective structures can also be exposed to both cases which can caused by military weapons. Traditionally, for prediction of the depth of penetration and crater size from projectiles, empirical relationships are used as discussed in TM5-1300 [6]. This paper presents numerical and experimental simulations of concrete penetration by 23mm steel projectiles with a velocity of 969 m/s and a comparison between the results and existing experimental investigations. The analysis is executed with AUTODYN [8]. To learn more about the structural behavior of concrete subjected to severe loading and to gain confidence in AUTODYN which is a powerful tool utilizing advanced non-linear FE analysis; this paper describes the methods used to validate ANSYS-AUTODYN capabilities and presents the results of the validation for a concrete model. The calculation is achieved using the empirical relationship from TM5-1300 and these data are compared to the obtained data from AUTODYN and the physical experiment.