CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY Aimée Lister Defence College of Management and Technology Investigations into the Optimisation of Sound Suppressor Geometry PhD Thesis CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DEFENCE COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT PhD Thesis Academic Year 2006 – 2007 Aimée Lister Investigations into the Optimisation of Sound Suppressor Geometry Supervisor : Dr DF Allsop September 2006 ©Cranfield University 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright owner. Abstract Health and Safety regulations are becoming ever more stringent in order to protect us in all aspects of our daily lives to prevent noise pollution and damage to hearing. For those in the military and some areas of civilian life working with firearms there is a definite need to reduce the sound levels from them. In order to do this a working knowledge of sound moderators and suppressors is considered vital in order to assess their capabilities and optimise their performance. The project looks at a theoretical model of an integral suppressor for a modified 12 bore shotgun. The model was used to determine the area of holes through the barrel, allowing gas into the suppressor, has the greatest effect on the pressure within the suppressor. It was found that the volume of the suppressor and position of the hole through the barrel did not have such a significant effect on the pressure. The theoretical work was supported by experimental trials which confirmed the barrel hole size has a significant effect on the pressure. The experimental work also showed for the low pressure system the hole size through the baffles did not have a significant effect on the pressure. Work was carried out to establish whether current practice for proofing suppressors was sufficient. The results show that proof rounds give a lower pressure in an external suppressor than standard ammunition. Tests on improvised suppressors showed they are effective and allowed a visual analysis on suppressors. Baffles were shown to be advantageous in a suppressor configuration. Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Dr D.F. Allsop for his help and guidance with the project. The author would also like to thank: Mr D. Miller, Mr S. Champion and Mr J. Harbour for their help on the range. Dr B. Lawton for his time modifying his program for use with the project. Mrs S Turner for her advice on pressure transducers. Mr M. Tawell, Mrs S. Lister, Mr S. Gilby, Mr S. Thomson and Mr J. Knowles for their help with written work. List of Contents LIST OF CONTENTS..................................................................... I LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................IV LIST OF EQUATIONS ................................................................VII LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................VIII GLOSSARY.................................................................................IX CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................... 1 1.1 WHAT IS SOUND ? .....................................................................................1 1.2 THE SOUND OF A WEAPON ........................................................................3 1.3 WHY USE A SUPPRESSOR ? ........................................................................5 1.4 BACKGROUND OF A SUPPRESSOR .............................................................11 1.5 PRINCIPLES BEHIND A SUPPRESSOR ..........................................................13 1.6 LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................16 1.7 AIM ........................................................................................................20 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL WORK......................................... 23 2.1 FACTORS AFFECTING ATTENUATION ..........................................................23 2.2 MODELLING GAS FLOW ............................................................................24 2.3 SUPPRESSOR EMPTYING AND FILLING GAS MODELLING .............................28 2.4 THEORETICAL MODELLING RESULTS .........................................................31 2.5 THEORETICAL MODELLING DISCUSSION ....................................................39 2.6 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................41 CHAPTER 3 EXPERIMENTAL WORK...................................... 42 3.1 PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION WITHIN 18”, 12 BORE BARREL .............................42 3.2 VELOCITY MEASUREMENT ........................................................................49 3.3 EXPERIMENTAL SUPPRESSOR ALLOWING PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS ..........50 3.4 EXPERIMENTAL TESTING OF POSSIBLE SUPPRESSOR SETUPS ......................54 3.5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................55 i 3.6 VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS ......................................................................74 3.7 SOUND PRESSURE LEVELS ......................................................................74 3.8 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................75 CHAPTER 4 PROOFING A SUPPRESSOR.............................. 76 4.1 INTRODUCTION AND AIM ..........................................................................76 4.2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE ....................................................................77 4.3 RESULTS ................................................................................................79 4.4 DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................83 4.5 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................85 CHAPTER 5 IMPROVISED SUPPRESSORS............................ 86 5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................86 5.2 AIM ........................................................................................................87 5.3 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE ....................................................................87 5.4 RESULTS ................................................................................................89 5.5 DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................98 5.6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................101 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION...................................................... 102 6.1 EXPERIMENTAL .....................................................................................102 6.2 THEORETICAL VS . EXPERIMENTAL ...........................................................104 6.3 OBSERVATIONS FROM FURTHER WORK ....................................................106 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION .................................................... 108 CHAPTER 8 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER WORK 110 APPENDIX A AUTOCAD DRAWINGS.................................... 111 APPENDIX B ENERGY, CONTINUITY AND MASS TRANSFER EQUATIONS FOR A GUN/SILENCER ..................................... 128 APPENDIX C EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE FIRING .......... 138 APPENDIX D EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE FIRING .......... 140 ii APPENDIX E EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ............................. 142 APPENDIX F EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE FIRING, PROOFING A SUPPRESSOR.................................................. 143 APPENDIX G CHAPTER 4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS........ 145 APPENDIX H EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE IMPROVISED SUPPRESSORS....................................................................... 146 APPENDIX I IMPROVISED SUPPRESSOR RESULTS........... 151 REFERENCES.......................................................................... 152 iii List of Figures Figure 1 Sound wave propagation ...................................................................1 Figure 2 Simple Sound Wave ..........................................................................1 Figure 3 Areas of Deception and Confusion ...................................................9 Figure 4 CAC9 9mm with external suppressor...............................................11 Figure 5 FAMAS S.A.F with integral suppressor............................................12 Figure 6 Comparison of deciBel levels for a weapon with and without suppressor ..............................................................................................13 Figure 7 Energy Absorption Schematic..........................................................14 Figure 8 Energy Dissipation Schematic .........................................................15 Figure 9 Energy Containment Schematic ......................................................15 Figure 10 Attenuation of constant length suppressor (17) .............................18 Figure 11 Arrangement of the cartridge showing from left to right the dumb dart, adaptor and 0.357 crimped cartridge..............................................22 Figure 12 Data entered in HMSOV relating to charge characteristics............26 Figure 13 Velocity and Pressure – Travel results. Note approx 25% of propellant is un-burnt which is not realistic. ............................................26 Figure 14 Arrangement of the cartridge showing from left to right the dumb dart, main cartridge and blank cartridge (identical to Figure 11) .............27 Figure 15 Schematic of System modelled......................................................29