Fracture mechanism of a cylindrical shell cut by circumferential detonation collision

The failure mechanism of a cylindrical shell cut into fragments by circumferential detonation collision was experimentally and numerically investigated. A self-designed detonation wave regulator was used to control the detonation and cut the shell. It was found that the self-designed regulator controlled the fragment shape. The macrostructure and micro-characteristics of fragments revealed that shear fracture was a prior mechanism, the shell fractured not only at the position of detonation collision, but the crack also penetrated the shell at the first contact position of the Chapmen-Jouguet (C-J) wave. The effects of groove number and outer layer thickness on the fracture behavior were tested by simulations. When the thickness of the outer layer was 5–18 mm, it has little effect on fragmentation of the shell, and shells all fractured at similar positions. The increase of the groove number reduced the fracture possibility of the first contact position of the C-J wave. When the groove number reached 7 with a 10 mm outer layer (1/4 model), the fracture only occurred at the position of detonation collision and the fragment width rebounded.     

An efficient SPH methodology for modelling mechanical characteristics of particulate composites

Particulate composites are one of the widely used materials in producing numerous state-of-the-art components in biomedical, automobile, aerospace including defence technology. Variety of modelling techniques have been adopted in the past to model mechanical behaviour of particulate composites. Due to their favourable properties, particle-based methods provide a convenient platform to model failure or fracture of these composites. Smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is one of such methods which demonstrate excellent potential for modelling failure or fracture of particulate composites in a Lagrangian setting. One of the major challenges in using SPH method for modelling composite materials depends on accurate and efficient way to treat interface and boundary conditions. In this paper, a master-slave method based multi-freedom constraints is proposed to impose essential boundary conditions and interfacial displacement constraints in modelling mechanical behaviour of composite materials using SPH method. The proposed methodology enforces the above constraints more accurately and requires only smaller condition number for system stiffness matrix than the procedures based on typical penalty function approach. A minimum cut-off value-based error criteria is employed to improve the compu-tational efficiency of the proposed methodology. In addition, the proposed method is further enhanced by adopting a modified numerical interpolation scheme along the boundary to increase the accuracy and computational efficiency. The numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed master-slave approach yields better accuracy in enforcing displacement constraints and requires approximately the same computational time as that of penalty method.     

Numerical investigation on cooling performance of filter in a pyrotechnic gas generator

As a key part of the pyrotechnic gas generator,the filter not only removes the particulate matter but also cools the hot gas to a safe level.This paper aims to improve the understanding of the basic heat and flow phenomenon in the gas generator.The pyrotechnic gas generator is modelling by a simplified filter structure with fiber arrays.A finite-volume model of the heat and fluid flow is proposed to simulate the detailed multi-dimensional flow and energy conversion behaviors.Several verification results are in good agreement with data in different references.Simulation results demonstrate that the filter can not only absorb heat from the gas but also cause the high intensity enhancement of the heat transfer.The per-formance difference between inline and staggered arrays is also discussed.The findings of the study put a further prediction tool for the understanding and design of the filter system with fibers.     

Hypersonic impact flash characteristics of a long-rod projectile collision with a thin plate target

Impact flash occurs when objects collide at supersonic speeds and can be used for real-time damage assessment when weapons rely on kinetic energy to destroy targets.However,the mechanism of impact flash remains unclear.A series of impact flash experiments of flat-head long-rod projectiles impacting thin target plates were performed with a two-stage light gas gun.The impact flash spectra for 6061 aluminum at 1.3-3.2 km/s collision speeds were recorded with a high-speed camera,a photoelectric sensor,and a time-resolved spectrometer.The intensity of the impact flash exhibited a pulse charac-teristic with time.The intensity(I)increased with impact velocity(V0)according to I∝Vn0,where n = 4.41 for V0 ＞ 2 km/s.However,for V0 ＜ 2 km/s,n = 2.21,and the intense flash duration is an order of magnitude less than that of higher V0.When V0 ＞ 2 km/s,a continuous spectrum(thermal radiation background)was observed and increased in intensity with V0.However,for V0 ＜ 2 km/s,only atomic line spectra were detected.There was no aluminum spectral lines for V0 ＜ 2 km/s,which indicated that it had not been vaporized.The initial intense flash was emission from excited and ionized ambient gases near the impact surface,and had little relationship with shock temperature rise,indicating a new mechanism of impact flash.     

Shock-induced reaction behaviors of functionally graded reactive material

In this paper, the ballistic impact experiments, including impact test chamber and impact double-spaced plates, were conducted to study the reaction behaviors of a novel functionally graded reactive material (FGRM), which was composed of polytetrafluoroethylene/aluminum (PTFE/Al) and PTFE/Al/bismuth trioxide (Bi₂O₃). The experiments showed that the impact direction of the FGRM had a significant effect on the reaction. With the same impact velocity, when the first impact material was PTFE/Al/Bi₂O₃, compared with first impact material PTFE/Al, the FGRM induced higher overpressure in the test chamber and larger damaged area of double-spaced plates. The theoretical model, which considered the shock wave generation and propagation, the effect of the shock wave on reaction efficiency, and penetration behaviors, was developed to analyze the reaction behaviors of the FGRM. The model predicted first impact material of the FGRM with a higher shock impedance was conducive to the reaction of reactive materials. The conclusion of this study provides significant information about the design and application of reactive materials.     

Maneuvering target tracking of UAV based on MN-DDPG and transfer learning

Tracking maneuvering target in real time autonomously and accurately in an uncertain environment is one of the challenging missions for unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).In this paper,aiming to address the control problem of maneuvering target tracking and obstacle avoidance,an online path planning approach for UAV is developed based on deep reinforcement learning.Through end-to-end learning powered by neural networks,the proposed approach can achieve the perception of the environment and continuous motion output control.This proposed approach includes:(1)A deep deterministic policy gradient(DDPG)-based control framework to provide learning and autonomous decision-making capa-bility for UAVs;(2)An improved method named MN-DDPG for introducing a type of mixed noises to assist UAV with exploring stochastic strategies for online optimal planning;and(3)An algorithm of task-decomposition and pre-training for efficient transfer learning to improve the generalization capability of UAV's control model built based on MN-DDPG.The experimental simulation results have verified that the proposed approach can achieve good self-adaptive adjustment of UAV's flight attitude in the tasks of maneuvering target tracking with a significant improvement in generalization capability and training efficiency of UAV tracking controller in uncertain environments.     

Recent progress on transition metal oxides and carbon-supported transition metal oxides as catalysts for thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

As a main oxidizer in solid composite propellants, ammonium perchlorate (AP) plays an important role because its thermal decomposition behavior has a direct influence on the characteristic of solid com-posite propellants. To improve the performance of solid composite propellant, it is necessary to take measures to modify the thermal decomposition behavior of AP. In recent years, transition metal oxides and carbon-supported transition metal oxides have drawn considerable attention due to their extraor-dinary catalytic activity. In this review, we highlight strategies to enhance the thermal decomposition of AP by tuning morphology, varying the types of metal ion, and coupling with carbon analogue. The enhanced catalytic performance can be ascribed to synergistic effect, increased surface area, more exposed active sites, and accelerated electron transportation and so on. The mechanism of AP decom-position mixed with catalyst has also been briefly summarized. Finally, a conclusive outlook and possible research directions are suggested to address challenges such as lacking practical application in actual formulation of solid composite propellant and batch manufacturing.     

Mitigation effects on the reflected overpressure of blast shock with water surrounding an explosive in a confined space

The mitigation of blast shock with water has broad application prospects. Understanding the mitigation effects on the reflected overpressure of the explosion shock with water surrounding an explosive in a confined space is of great significance for military explosives safety applications. To estimate the effects of the parameters on the reflected overpressure of blasted shock wave, a series of experiments were carried out in confined containers with spherical explosives immersed in a certain thickness of water, and numerical simulations were conducted to explore the corresponding mechanisms. The results reveal that the reflected overpressure is abnormally aggravated at a small scaled distance. This aggravation is due to the high impulse of the bulk accelerated water shell converted from the explosion. With increasing scaled distance, the energy will be gradually dissipated. The mitigation effects will appear with the dispersed water phase front impacting at a larger scaled distance, except in the case of a dense water phase state. A critical scaled distance range of 0.7—0.8 m/kg1/3 for effective mitigation was found. It is suggested that the scaled distance of space walls should be larger than the critical value for a certain water-to-explosive weight ratio range (5—20).     

Cooperative interception with fast multiple model adaptive estimation

For the case that two pursuers intercept an evasive target, the cooperative strategies and state estimation methods taken by pursuers can seriously affect the guidance accuracy for the target, which performs a bang For the case that two pursuers intercept an evasive target, the cooperative strategies and state estimation methods taken by pursuers can seriously affect the guidance accuracy for the target, which performs a bang-bang evasive maneuver with a random switching time. Combined Fast multiple model adaptive estimation (Fast MMAE) algorithm, the cooperative guidance law takes detection configuration affecting the accuracy of interception into consideration. Introduced the detection error model related to the line-of-sight (LOS) separation angle of two interceptors, an optimal cooperative guidance law solving the optimization problem is designed to modulate the LOS separation angle to reduce the estimation error and improve the interception performance. Due to the uncertainty of the target bang-bang maneuver switching time and the effective fitting of its multi-modal motion, Fast MMAE is introduced to identify its maneuver switching time and estimate the acceleration of the target to track and intercept the target accurately. The designed cooperative optimal guidance law with Fast MMAE has better estimation ability and interception performance than the traditional guidance law and estimation method via Monte Carlo simulation.     

Survivability assessment of spacecraft impacted by orbit debris

To help optimize the spacecraft design and reduce the risk of spacecraft mission failure, a new approach to assess the survivability of spacecraft in orbit is presented here, including the following three steps:1) Sensitivity Analysis of spacecraft. A new sensitivity analysis method, a ray method based on virtual outer wall, is presented here. Using rays to simulate the debris cloud can effectively address the component shadowing issues. 2) Component Vulnerability analysis of spacecraft. A function"Component functional reduction degree — Component physical damage degree"is provided here to clearly describe the component functional reduction. 3) System-level Survivability Assessment of spacecraft. A new method based on expert knowledge reasoning, instead of traditional artificial failure tree method, is presented here to greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of calculation.