Detailed Characterization of Hypervelocity Firings in a Long 120-MM Gun

Abstract

The applicability of lumped-parameter interior ballistic models to very high velocity guns is limited by the use of a superimposed pressure gradient to approximate the relationship between the space mean, breech, and projectile base pressures. Even modern two-phase flow interior ballistic models, specifically formulated to address the hydrodynamics of the problem, are largely untested in such regimes. Serious attempts to develop high-velocity solid propellant guns, however, require an accurate modeling capability for concept screening and charge optimization. Firings were conducted in a long 120-mm gun (Ballistic Tube) at a propellant charge to projectile mass (C/M) ratio of about 3 to provide muzzle velocities in the 2 - 2.5 km/s range. The tube was instrumented with pressure gages at 14 locations to determine the experimental pressure-displacement profile. Results were compared to predictions of a classical lumped-parameter code, a state-of-the-art two-phase flow model, and a lumped-parameter code with a recently developed pressure gradient.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1991
Accession Number
ADA234502

Entities

People

  • Albert W. Horst
  • Carl R. Ruth

Organizations

  • Ballistic Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ammunition
  • Base Pressure
  • Burning Rate
  • Cameras
  • Insensitive Explosives
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Military Research
  • Munitions
  • Muzzle Velocity
  • Pressure Gages
  • Pressure Gradients
  • Projectiles
  • Propellants
  • Solid Propellants
  • Two Phase Flow

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • ballistics.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster