On the continued acceleration of bomb casing fragments following casing fracture

It has been said that, once a bomb casing has fractured, “detonation gases will then stream around the fragments or bypass them, and the acceleration process stops there.” However, while apparently copious gas flow through casing fractures indicates some pressure release, it is also an indication of significant gas drive pressure, post casing fracture. This paper shows two approaches to the problem of calculating the actual loss of drive. One presents first-order analytical calculations, in cylindrical geometry, of pressure loss to the inside surface of a fractured casing. The second shows the modelling of a selected example in the CTH code. Both approaches reveal that gas escape, while occurring at its own sound-speed relative to the adjacent casing fragments, has to compete with rapid radial expansion of the casing. Together with some historic experiments now publicly available, our calculations indicate that post-fracture casing fragment acceleration is, for most systems, unlikely to be reduced significantly.     

管道机器人在三通处的通过性分析

三通是管道机器人经常遇到的典型障碍之一,克服该障碍的能力用管道机器人在三通处通过性来描述。文中提出一种描述差压驱动式管道机器人三通通过性的数学模型,该模型由一组组合约束构成。通过对约束方程的分析讨论、与管道机器人弯道通过性的对比分析,得出了规律性的结论。管道机器人在三通处的姿态、单元体的几何尺寸、行走轮结构形式对其通过性都有不同程度的影响。所提出数学模型是管道机器人三通自主行走控制策略设计和相应结构设计的理论基础。     

悬浮固相颗粒对储集层基质孔隙的堵塞规律研究

应用胜利油区8个不同区块的岩心及注入水,采用岩心流动实验手段,研究了注入水中悬浮颗粒对储层孔隙的堵塞特征,发现悬浮颗粒对储层的堵塞特征表现为孔隙逐步堵塞和迅速堵塞两种类型;悬浮颗粒浓度低且孔径与粒径的比值较大时易形成孔隙避步堵塞;悬浮颗粒浓度大或孔径与粒径的比值较小时易形成迅速堵塞;悬浮颗粒对储层的堵塞程度、堵塞类型是颗粒浓度、颗粒粒径与储层孔喉匹配综合作用的结果;迅速堵塞特征的初始堵塞效果主要取决于孔径与粒径的匹配关系,最终堵塞效果主要与注入水中的颗粒浓度有关;高浓度的小颗粒对孔隙基质的堵塞特征表现为迅速堵塞。     

Military Off the Shelf Procurements: A Norwegian Case Study

Buying off the shelf procurements (OTS) has become an important part of the national acquisition strategy in several countries, and this paper seeks to bring empirical evidence on OTS as the preferred acquisition strategy by use of data from 2015 to 2022 investment portfolio of the Norwegian Armed Forces. We develop definitions for three categories of procurement – OTS, modified OTS and development projects – as well as a method to classify projects into these categories. Our first finding is that the characteristics of OTS projects correspond to modified OTS and development projects. Our second finding indicates that OTS projects perform better when it comes to the completion of projects according to the initial schedule, compared to development projects.     

Regular and irregular forces in conflict: nineteenth century insurgencies in South America

ABSTRACT

In the decades following independence from Spain, ‘civil wars’ ravaged the newly established polities in South America. Former vice-regal capitals inherited a larger portion of the colonial administration and had larger economic resources and a hegemonic project they were able to have permanent and professional armed forces, capable of leading the offensive and giving battle following the European rules of military art. The central hypothesis of this work is that there is a necessary relationship between the shape of these asymmetrical conflicts, their outcome and the political territorial configuration of each country in post-revolutionary Spanish America. When permanent armies took over from local militias, the capital kept the integrity of its territories and there was a tendency towards political centralization. When this did not happen and the militias managed to find a way to defeat their centralizing enemies, the local powers had an opportunity to renegotiate their participation in the political body, and sought to maintain their independence, which was manifest in federal agreements, otherwise a process of territorial fragmentation began. More than a difference between regular and irregular forces there was one between intermittent, and permanent mobilization.     

Cell structure of microcellular combustible object foamed by supercritical carbon dioxide

In order to solve the issue that the combustible objects for cased telescoped ammunition (CTA) didn't burn completely during the combustion process, the microcellular combustible objects were foamed with numerous cells in the micron order to improve the combustion performance by the supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) foaming technology. As the cell structure determined the combustion properties of microcellular combustible objects, the solubility of SCCO₂ dissolved into the combustible objects was obtained from the gravimetric method, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) was applied to characterize the cell structure under various process conditions of solubility, foaming temperature and foaming time. SEM images indicate that the cell diameter of microcellular combustible objects is in the level of 1 μm and the cell density is about 10¹¹ cell⋅cm⁻³. The microcellular combustible objects fabricated by the SCCO₂ foaming technology are smooth and uniform, and the high specific surface area of cell structure can lead to the significant combustion performance of microcellular combustible object for CTA in the future.     

Casualty Rates of US Military Personnel During the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, which ended in August 2010, nearly 3500 hostile deaths occurred among US military personnel and 32,000 more were wounded in action (WIA). More than 1800 hostile deaths occurred during Operation Enduring Freedom (in and around Afghanistan) through 2014 and about 20,000 were WIA. A larger proportion of wounded personnel survived in Iraq and Afghanistan than during the Vietnam War, but the increased survival rates were not as high as some studies have asserted. The survival rates were 90.2% in Iraq and 91.6% in Afghanistan, compared with 86.5% in Vietnam. The casualty rates varied between the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and before, during, and after the respective surges. Amputation rates are difficult to measure consistently, but I estimate that 2.6% of all WIA and 9.0% of medically evacuated WIA from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters combined resulted in the major loss of a limb. Elevated non-hostile death rates (including deaths due to accidents, illnesses, homicides, or suicides) resulted in about 220 more deaths in Iraq and about 200 more deaths in Afghanistan than would have been expected in peacetime among populations of the size deployed to those two conflicts.     

A Good Ally - Norway and International Statebuilding in Afghanistan, 2001-2014

The article examines the findings of the Commission of Inquiry established by the Norwegian government in 2014 to evaluate all aspects of Norway’s civilian and military contribution to the international operation in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Concerned with the wider implications of the Commission’s findings, it focuses on two issues in particular: (1) Norway’s relations with the US, a close and long-standing strategic ally whose resources, capabilities and dominance of decision-making dwarfed that of all other coalition partners in Afghanistan; and (2) Norway’s record in the province of Faryab, where, from 2005 to 2012, a Norwegian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team was charged with bringing security, good governance and development to the province. How Norway prioritised and managed relations with the US highlights and helps to problematise the challenges – political, practical and moral – facing small and medium-sized powers operating in a coalition alongside the US. Norwegian efforts in Faryab are revealing of the dilemmas and contradictions that plagued and, ultimately, fatally undermined the international intervention as a whole. As such, Norway’s experience provides a microcosm through which the inherent limitations of the attempt to transfer the structures of modern statehood and Western democracy to Afghanistan can be better understood.     

A Question of ‘Government’ Control: Afghanistan DDR Programs Since 2001

Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), the United States, the United Nations, and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have funded and led three different Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs. Despite a significant investment in time and treasure, all of them have failed to significantly reduce the number of insurgents or arbaki (militia). This article explores why these programs failed despite incorporating ideas from the prominent DDR schools of thought. Utilizing Stathis Kalyvas’ theory of The Logic of Violence in Civil War as a lens, this article argues that GIRoA and ISAF did not have sufficient control of territory to entice insurgents or arbaki to reconcile and/or reintegrate with the government. Further, in areas GIRoA nominally controlled in northern and western Afghanistan, regional powerbrokers who controlled these areas balked at these programs.     

便携式绳轨提升装置的轮盘-绳索摩擦提升力模型

为提高便携式绳轨提升装置的实用性,对基于摩擦的该类装置的提升能力展开研究。利用控制变量法分别研究末端拉力、包角与轮盘-绳索相对尺寸对两者之间摩擦提升力的影响,结果表明该提升力均随三种因素的增加而增加但趋势变缓;轮盘-绳索之间的静摩擦系数随绳索末端拉力与包角的增加而减小并趋于稳定,随轮盘-绳索相对尺寸的增加而增加并收敛。论证了包角与末端拉力对摩擦提升力的影响相互等效,发现了轮盘-绳索摩擦的尺寸效应,构建了以上因素共同作用下的轮盘-绳索摩擦提升力模型。该模型是对欧拉公式的扬弃,深化了对轮盘-绳索摩擦规律的认识,对便携式绳轨提升装置的小型化、轻量化设计具有重要意义。