SMALL CALIBER MODELING FROM DESIGN TO MANUFACTURE TO LAUNCH

摘要

The US Army transition to environmentally friendly green ammunition has necessitated the development of modeling techniques for small caliber ammunition in order to evaluate alternative materials. This work is focused on the development of a numeric modeling capability to facilitate design, manufacture and launch of small caliber projectiles. Manufacturing modeling has been performed using ABAQUS. Load profiles and stress histories were predicted from the numerical models for different critical manufacturing stations [1], Predicted loads and experimental load data is in excellent agreement and shows the ability to predict the manufacturing behavior of the projectiles. The interaction between small caliber projectiles and rifled barrels is evaluated through explicit finite element analysis (FEA) simulations conducted with LS-Dyna. Results show that the explicit dynamic simulations can predict the in-bore behavior, particularly how small caliber projectiles engrave and obturate. The results of the simulation and the resulting projectile deformation patterns are compared to the rifling engagement patterns visible on projectiles that have been soft recovered. The simulation results of the M855 and the experimental validation data are presented. The modeling methodology has created the capability to predict the effect of both material and geometry changes on the manufacturing and in-bore behavior of small caliber ammunition.