Development of a method for determining the wear of artillery barrels by acoustic fields of shots

Abstract

6 use [3]. Ultimately, wear can be considered as an integral process leading to the final result: a decrease in initial shell velocity and an increase in its spread from shot to shot as a random variable [4]. In addition to the military-applied aspect, the artillery barrel wear has a material economic aspect. The cost of barrels of current large-caliber artillery systems is estimated at 30-35 % of the cost of the system in general. Further operation of the barrel which has reached the maximum level of wear can lead to its complete, irrecoverable failure. In this case, the measures of replacement and disposal of out-of-service barrels lead to large economic and time losses. The methods used today for assessing wear of artillery barrels are either obsolete and rather approximate or based on modern technologies requiring expensive job-dedicated equipment. The latter methods are very costly and time-consuming. At the same time, it is known that an artillery shot creates powerful acoustic fields that can be recorded at sufficiently large distances. According to [5], analysis of the acoustic fields accompanying firing can be used to find out 6 APPLIED PHYSICS

Development of physical models for the formation of acoustic waves at artillery shots and study of the possibility of separate registration of waves of various types

“…These results are useful in the practical creation of systems for assessing barrel wear by acoustic fields of shots [4]. It follows from them that measuring microphones recording the muzzle wave as a blast wave should be located at a distance of at least 30...50 m from the muzzle section but no farther than 300...500 m. In this case, these microphones will always record the ballistic wave first and then the muzzle one.…”

“…The high-tech methods require the use of expensive equipment which is an obstacle to their practical implementation in military units. An alternative procedure for assessing the degree of the barrel wear includes a method based on assessing the initial shell speed derived from the acoustic fields accompanying the shot [4]. The method is fast, inexpensive, and easily automated.…”

“…The method is fast, inexpensive, and easily automated. However, for its practical implementation, the measuring sensors (microphones) must be spaced in a special pattern [4]. First, a ballistic blast wave and then (already in the Mach cone formed by the ballistic wave) a muzzle blast wave that has not yet degenerated into a sound wave should be recorded.…”

“…According to [3], analysis of acoustic portraits of artillery systems can be used to assess the gun type, the shell caliber, and other data characterizing the gun. This, in turn, opens up the opportunity to form a new economical technology for assessing the artillery barrel wear [4]. Methods of acoustic assessment of the barrel state are simple, economical, requiring no expensive equipment and applicable in field conditions.…”

Devising a method for improving the efficiency of artillery shooting based on the Markov model

“…The disadvantages of ABS are a fairly high cost and unmasking property since ABS is radiating active systems. An option for overcoming the described problems can be means of assessing the initial velocity of the projectile from the acoustic fields of the shot [22]. These means are based on the registration of the ballistic wave (BW) and muzzle wave (MW) that occur when shot [23].…”