Stress Analysis and Design of a 155Mm Projectile Shell to Be Used in Firefighting
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Stress analysis and design of a 155mm projectile shell to be used in firefighting Lu´ısReis Moitinho de Almeida [email protected] Instituto Superior T´ecnico,Lisboa, Portugal March 2016 Abstract The objective of the Firend project is the development of a firefighting projectile to be launched from a Howitzer. This Thesis has two major purposes: (1) identify and understand the main parameters affecting the behaviour of a firefighting 155 mm projectile; (2) make a proposal of a design for this projectile. Stress analyses were made in ABAQUS for the movement of the projectile inside the Howitzer. With a solid payload - material inside the projectile - there was almost no bending at the walls and the stresses were mainly located at the base. The implementation of a conical shaped base (boat tail) reduced the stresses. With liquid payload, the hydrostatic pressures caused the appearance of high stresses. This problem was solved by introducing a boat tail and assuming the side walls of the projectile are not able to move radially inside the Howitzer. The factors influencing the flight stability of the projectile were studied and it was decided to reduce m the initial size of the projectile. The final version presented assumed a muzzle velocity of vf = 150 =s and the materials chosen were: Polycarbonate - good resistance to high temperatures; Polylactide - biodegradable and compostable material. In the prototyping stage the manufacturing process was decided to be Thermoforming because of the low costs associated with it and the ease in creating modifications to the mold. With the results from this Thesis it was concluded that the Firend Projectile is a firefighting method with economic, strategic and environmental potential to succeed. Keywords: Firefighting projectile, Stresses in projectiles, Internal Ballistics, Projectile Design. 1. Introduction Humanity has always been dependent on the many resources provided by forests around the world in order to breath clean air and collect food and raw materials that provide heating and essential feed- stock for multiple industries. The forest area in Portugal has grown more than five times its size in the last one and a half centuries, from 7% in 1870 to 35,4% in 2010. Nevertheless, between 1995 and 2010 there was a loss in total forest area of about 0,3% [1] per year mainly due to forest fires, growing urban areas and diseases. Portugal has been the country inside Europe with the highest proportion of burned forest area to total forest area in the last four decades [1]. The causes are mainly man related and between 1990 and 2012 more than 2.5 million ha of forest burned. In 2003, one dramatic year for the Portuguese forests, 20 people died and 8% of the total area of forest stands was destroyed due to fires [3]. The repeated oc- Figure 1: Burned areas in Portugal between 1994 currence of fires every year, sometimes in the same and 2014 [2]. 1 The Firend Project began in 2005 and has been target of many studies regarding the format and size of the projectile, the flight stability, the method of detonation of the fuse and the influence of different propellants are some of the main topics addressed. 2. Interior Ballistics Overview To understand the stresses observed in the projec- tile, here are presented the main parameters that influence the behaviour of a typical projectile while it is inside the tube - Internal Ballistics. 2.1. Internal Ballistics During this phase, the projectile is inserted at the Figure 2: Render of a possible final Firend rear of the Howitzer - Breech - into the tube with Projectile. only two zones in direct contact with it: the Bour- relet at the beginning of the nose and the Rotating region in just a matter of few years difference - Fig- Band located after the tappered base - Boat Tail. ure 2 - has transformed part of the landscape into Once the ignition of the propellant is initiated, the bushes areas, where the vegetation is rather short increase of the pressure inside the powder cham- and dry, increasing the probability of more fires to ber pushes the projectile forward and the rotating appear. band is engraved onto the rifling of the tube, follow- There are mainly three factors with a strong in- ing the lands and grooves, thus acquiring rotation fluence on the fire behaviour: composition of the that is transmitted to the whole projectile [6]. combustible, meteorological conditions and topog- Figures 3 and 4 are two schemes of the main ele- raphy [4]. If this factors are all propitious for fire ments of ballistics: projectile and tube. spreading the results are devastating and it can be a very dangerous and difficult mission to successfully fight the fire. The use of a projectile to help fighting forest fires - Firend Projectile - was first idealized in 2005 and the idea is still up today. It may handle different quantities of liquid fire retardant depending on the mechanical characteristics and the requirements im- posed, and is going to be launched from Portuguese Army Howitzers, in batteries of 6. In comparison to the typical aerial firefighting methods used nowadays - helicopters and planes such as the Canadair -, and considering a projec- tile made of a polymeric material, the Firend Pro- jectile has got potential to become a much more economical alternative, specially when considering the industrial production in large batch sizes. The cost per liter of a 70cm projectile is approximately 0:30AC and for the Canadair CL-215 this value in- Figure 3: Scheme of a typical high calibre shell [7]. creases up to 1:40AC [5]. Also, the liquid pulveriza- tion that can be achieved with the detonation of the projectile 's fuse while it is in the air is proba- bly much better that the one observed in the aerial discharges from firefighting helicopters and planes, making this alternative more efficient, specially in scenarios of fires in bushes areas, where the fire in- tensity is smaller. Figure 4: Scheme of a typical howitzer tube [6]. The usage of the Firend Projectile may be not limited for forest fires. The safe working distance to When the rate of gases produced by the com- the fire front provided by the launch from Howitzers bustion of the propellant is lower than the rate at makes it also a good alternative for fighting fires in which the volume behind the projectile grows, the industrial buildings and oil platforms. pressure begins to drop. 2 Figure 5: Drawing of the shell of the projectile in millimeters. 2.2. Howitzer M114 A1 155mm/23 Characteristics In both cases, a zero velocity boundary condi- • Calibre - 155mm; tion is created at the rotating band and bourrelet. The front mass inside the half sphere in the front • Bore Length - 23 Calibres = 23 × 155 = of the projectile is connected to the inner wall of 3:565mm; the projectile by a Tie Constraint that prevents the • Twist Rate - Length required to complete 360o movement of both surfaces in relation to each other in the longitudinal direction of the Bore - 25 in every direction. Between the payload and the Calibres = 25 × 155 = 3:875mm. projectile, the contact characteristics depend on the type of payload and the load applied. 2.3. Projectile The initial configuration assumed for the projectile 2.5. Loads are given bellow, where the front mass located at The much lower weight of the Firend Projectile - the half sphere of the front of the projectile has the less than 15 kg against the 45 kg of a normal shell - same density of the payload. and the fact that this new projectile is to be thrown at much lower velocities to shorter ranges are the • Dimensions - Figure 5: main reasons for the cutback in the peak pressure { Calibre - 155mm; in relation to the common projectiles. The pressure profile is an important factor that { Length - 700mm; influences the behaviour of the projectile inside the { Thickness - 5mm; Howitzer. Three types of profile were defined for a m { Length of the Rotating Band - 50mm; projectile exiting the muzzle at vf = 240 =s: Con- stant Pressure, Linear Pressure Variation and Ex- { Length of the Bourrelet - 20mm; ponential Pressure Variation. • Densities: • Constant Pressure: { Projectile - 1500kg=m3; { Interior and front mass - 1000kg=m3 p(x) = 5:814 × 106 Pa (1) With these characteristics the projectile has a to- tal mass of 13.58 kg. • Linear Pressure Variation x 2.4. Boundary Conditions p(x) = 1:163 × 107 1 − (2) 3:565 In ABAQUS analyses it was necessary to define sev- eral boundary conditions. For the solid payload scenario it is possible to • Exponential Pressure Variation use an axisymmetric configuration while consider- p(x) = P axe1−ax (3) ing just the base pressure. In this case, ABAQUS 0 automatically imposes a zero velocity boundary Here, f is a friction factor related to the pres- condition in the direction perpendicular to the sym- a sure that is still acting on the projectile at the metry axis along the edges laying on it. end of the tube and a is a variable that controls For all the other scenarios, including liquid pay- the position of the pressure peak. load and when there is a torque applied, it must be used a 3-dimensional model and a cylindrical coor- The value for a that requires the least amount dinate system is created to facilitate the identifica- of pressure applied at the base - P0 = 13:5 MPa −1 5 tion of the stress components. - is a ≈ 1:4 m ≈ L . 3 Figure 6: Base Pressure profiles. Figure 6 shows a plot of the various pressures firing of a projectile and in problems with Fluid profiles addressed without considering the friction Structure Interactions (FSI).