SIMULATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MULTI-MATERIAL AND COMPLEX-SHAPED PROPELLANT COMBUSTION IN A 120 MM TANK GUN

Abstract

In the development process of ammunition, grain design plays a crucial role in controlling pressure evolution in the system and thus the performance of the ammunition. Additive manufacturing techniques offer novel opportunities for geometric shapes and material structures of propellant grains due to the large number of degrees of freedom. To quantitatively assess the potential, this work presents an approach in which the packing density is simulated, considering the real system. Using the resulting propellant mass, pressure evolution in the weapon system is computed according to the STANAG 4367. Applied to a generic 120 mm tank cannon L50, 7pf sphero-cylinders with different spherical cap heights were investigated and compared with a 7pf cylinder. It is demonstrated that these geometries can increase muzzle velocity by up to 9 %.