HAZARD CLASSIFICATION OF PLASTIC BONDED EXPLOSIVE AS INSENSITIVE MUNITIONS BASED ON RESPONSE TO VARIOUS STIMULI BY SIMULATED TESTS CONDUCTED ON SCALED DOWN WARHEADS

Abstract

It is popularly said that ‘sailors in the navy sleep on the ammunitions’ as they sail onboard naval platforms such as ships and submarines for extended periods. Hence, navies worldwide assign utmost importance to safety. In order to meet the requirements of safety against various stimuli under different threat perceptions in the real scenario, scaled down warheads filled with RDX/AP/HTPB based Plastic Bonded Explosive (PBX) are subjected to prescribed standard tests. The tests conducted are Bullet Impact Test, Fragment Impact Test, Slow Cook-Off Test, Fast Cook-Off Test, Shaped Charge Jet Penetration Test and Sympathetic Detonation Test. Preparation of specimen scaled down warheads, test methodologies and ANSYS Autodyne simulations are discussed in the present paper. Actual details of the tests conducted are not revealed to confidentiality.