Unsteady flow analysis of combustion processes in a Davis gun

Abstract

The Davis gun, a type of recoilless gun, has the advantages of requiring less rear area and less powder than a conventional recoilless gun. The unsteady pressure and flow fields of a Davis gun were numerically simulated by using a two-phase fluid dynamic model. Numerical simulation results were compared with experimental values to evaluate the feasibility of the interior ballistic model. The interior ballistics in a Davis gun with a simple countermass were predicted with the computational model. It was shown that the pressure-time curves matched well between experimental data and numerical analysis except in the vicinity of the peak pressure and steep pressure gradient. The predicted muzzle velocity of projectile and countermass was closely similar to the experimental one. In this study, large pressure waves were not observed since the initial porosity was relatively high (phi(0) = 0.867) and the charge was ignited at the centre of the granular bed.