Damaging Effects of Weapons and Ammunition. Igor A. Balagansky

      Cover Design: Wiley

      Cover Image: © Taro Hama @ e-kamakura/Getty Images

Dedicated

       to

       My Teachers

Preface

      There are currently only a few publications available that provide information on the damaging effects of weapons and ammunition in a systematic and up‐to‐date manner. The author has attempted to fill this void.

      This book contains a description of the physical fundamentals of the effects of weapons and ammunition. The introduction provides the basic concepts of the theory of combat effectiveness of weapons. The first chapter deals with the designs and effects of fragmentation munitions; the second chapter talks about munitions with shaped charges. The third chapter describes high‐explosive weapons and ammunition; the fourth chapter is devoted to penetration weapons and ammunition. Since the study of the explosion and impact processes nowadays is impossible without extensive application of numerical simulation, the author found it necessary to devote a separate chapter to these issues (Chapter 5). It does not aim to teach how to create software systems for numerical modeling – a large number of those exist already – rather, it is important to learn how to use existing systems competently.

      Calculation formulas for estimating parameters of damage fields and their interaction with different objects are provided. Damage criteria are provided, too; vulnerability characteristics of objects in relation to different damaging factors are given, as well as formulas for evaluation of safe distances and resistance of different objects and structures to explosion and impact action.

      When writing this book, the author has used the experience of teaching the relevant disciplines at the Novosibirsk State Technical University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Ustinov Baltic State Technical University, and Zhukovsky Military Aviation Technical University in Russia. It also reflects the results of the author's own research.

The book does not cover designs and operation of weapon control and guidance systems, as they are separate and extensive subject for study. The dimensions used are not always given in the international unit system SI, since specific artillery units are generally used in cited literature and classical publications on the effects of weapons and ammunition.

      The author hopes that readers will understand the units used, which will help them to get acquainted with those publications in the future. To facilitate the unit translations, tables with ratios and necessary explanations are provided in the appendix. It is assumed that readers are familiar with the basics of probability theory, explosion physics, and gas dynamics.

      The textbook is aimed at students, postgraduate students, and professionals, which specialize in the study of explosive phenomena and explosion safety. In addition, it will be useful for other professionals in the development of protective measures against terrorism and explosion‐related technological accidents.

      I gratefully acknowledge the support of my son, Alexei, in preparing this book, especially for the help in improving the style of my English.

I Introduction

      I.1 Ammunition Types and Characteristics of Their Damaging Effect

      I.1.1 Basic Concepts and Definitions

      The term “weapons and ammunition” includes a wide range of different elements: from small arms ammunition and hand grenades to artillery and mortar projectiles, aircraft bombs and depth charges, missile and torpedo warheads, as well as engineering and sea mines designed to destroy enemy personnel and equipment, destroy structures and fortifications, and perform special tasks.

      Damaging effect is defined as the ability of ammunition to damage a target provided that it is already close to it and all its elements have operated without failure. The effectiveness of the damaging effect of ammunition on the target and its combat effectiveness should not, therefore, be confused. Obviously, the combat effectiveness depends not only on the effectiveness of the ammunition near a target but also on the accuracy of ammunition delivery, the reliability of all its elements (the fuse in particular), the ability to withstand the enemy's defensive actions, and many other factors.

      As an example, you might recall the history of thermonuclear weapons. The first thermonuclear device was exploded in the United States, yet the first thermonuclear bomb was created in the USSR. The device created in the United States had such a weight (62 tons) that it was meaningless to think about delivering it to a real target. It had a damaging effect, but its combat effectiveness was completely absent.

      I.1.2 Types of Ammunition and Their Damaging Effects

      In order to ensure a damaging effect on targets, it is necessary to exert any action on them. It is customary to highlight:

       action of fragment flow;

       penetrating action;

       shaped charge action;

       action of a shock wave and explosion products;

       incendiary action;

       action of penetrating and electromagnetic radiation of a nuclear explosion.

      All ammunition is divided into the following types, depending on its main effects:

       fragmentation (with natural, controlled fragmentation, and preformed fragments; rod warheads; gunpowder and explosive shrapnel; case‐shot);

       penetrating (small arms ammunition, armor‐piercing, and concrete‐piercing);

       shaped charges (with single or tandem shaped charges; explosion‐formed projectiles);

       high explosive (blast) ammunition, including volumetric explosion ammunition;

       incendiary;

       nuclear (based on fission or fusion);

       unified by type of action.

      Ammunition that does not damage targets but serves as a countermeasure to protect or reduce the damage from the enemy's ammunition can be identified as a separate group. For the same purpose, active protection of armored vehicles is developed to destroy enemy ammunitions as it approaches the target.

      There are also many auxiliary and special‐purpose munitions: lighting, smoke, and others that will not be considered here.

      As we can see, there are just a few ways for ammunition to act on targets, despite the huge variety of weapon and ammunition designs. For the most part, all of them are determined either by the kinetic energy of the munition itself or by the chemical energy of the explosive that the munition is equipped with. In both cases, the equations that describe the behavior of materials during impulse loading determine the parameters of the field of damage and the processes of damage itself.

      In this textbook, we will examine in some detail the effects of fragmentation, high explosive, penetrating ammunition, and ammunition with shaped charges.

I.2 Generalized Characteristics of the Damaging Effect

      The damaging effects of weapons and ammunition can be described by different parameters. For example, for fragmentation ammunition, such characteristics are sometimes used as the number of effective fragments, the distance at which a fragment is able to pierce a barrier of a given thickness. The effect of ammunition with shaped charges is assessed by the thickness of the pierced armor. To assess the effect of high‐explosive ammunition, the value of overpressure