Further development of the jet suite capability: application of optimisation techniques for advanced warhead design

摘要

Analytic models of shaped charge jet formation, break-up ;and target penetration are becoming ever faster to run with the advent of increasing computational power. The challenge of using these models to search for a design that optimises a prescribed performance measure poses an infinite range of combinations to be tested. This paper presents the results of a research study that uses a standard QinetiQ shaped charge, the K4, as a bgaseline charge. An optimisation study is performed in which up to fourteen geometric and material design parameters are varied subject to various design constraints. Contrasting optimisation methods are employed first to maximise the kinetic energy of the jet and finally to maximise the penetration into a semi-infinite RHA target. It is concluded that stochastic and evolutionary methods appear to offer the most success and promise for advanced weapon optimisation methods including materials and geometry selection.