A Two-Stage Light Gas Gun for the Study of High Speed Impact in Propellants

Abstract

This report describes a proposed two-stage light gas gun for the investigation of high speed impact in solid rocket propellants. Such a facility would provide valuable, quantitative information on the IM response of propellants for the ADF. A description of the operating principles and anticipated design is followed by a performance prediction using a numerical model. A quasi-one-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code was utilized to simulate the interaction of the gas dynamics with piston and projectile motion. Various projectile masses and initial gas fill pressures were investigated. It was concluded that the device described in this report was capable of accelerating masses of the order of 5- 15g at hypervelocity speeds using a helium driver gas and that performance would be enhanced by evacuating the launch tube prior to projectile release. Marginal performance increases could be obtained by replacing the driver gas with hydrogen.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA388455

Entities

People

  • Con Doolan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Energetic Materials
  • Explosive Charges
  • Explosives
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Gas Dynamics
  • Gas Guns
  • Insensitive Explosives
  • Launch Tubes
  • Light Gas Guns
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Munitions
  • Propellants
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Rocket Propellants
  • Shock Tunnels
  • Solid Rocket Propellants

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Explosive Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow