Computational Fluid Dynamics Application to Gun Muzzle Blast - A Validation Case Study
Abstract
Accurate modeling of near-field wave propagation is critical to determine blast wave overpressure of large caliber muzzle brakes. Experimental testing to determine blast overpressure is costly, making computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of these flow-fields a viable alternative. Techniques and specialized CFD codes are being developed in order to properly model the unsteady, very high-pressure flows of gun muzzle blast. Two CFD codes, Fluent 6.1.11 (a prerelease version of Fluent) and the Discontinuous Galerkin Code (DG) were developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. These codes were used to compare experimental shadowgraph data from the 7.62-mm NATO rifle G3 using a DM-41 training round for the purpose of developing CFD modeling techniques and validation of the CFD codes. Unsteady grid adaption was used with both solvers in order to reduce solution error near unsteady blast waves and shocks. It is possible to get good results from Fluent with high levels of adaption, however DG can model blast with courser grid adaption. It was also found that DG required an order-of-magnitude longer solution time than Fluent for a given number of grid elements. The 7.62-mm NATO G3 CFD precursor flow results matched experimental shadowgraph results well, however, the main propellant flow results did not match well.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA417311
Entities
People
- Daniel L. Cler
- J. E. Flaherty
- Jean-francois Remacle
- Mark S. Shephard
- Nicholas Chevaugeon
Organizations
- United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center