Computational Fluid Dynamics and Experimental Validations of the Direct Coupling Between Interior, Intermediate and Exterior Ballistics Using the Euler Equations

For several years we have been working on the development of a computational fluid dynamics ballistics code called FREIN. This code is the result of a strong cooperation between Nexter Munitions and the University of Poitiers. In the last years, efforts have been carried out to improve the 3D modeling. In a fully unsteady way, the interior, intermediate and exterior ballistics were modeled as well as the weapon system environment. The complex phenomena encountered are investigated by an adapted numerical simulation approach using the Euler equations for two immiscible gases. The method involves moving bodies with respect to fixed Cartesian meshes and the aerodynamic forces are used to compute the trajectories. In this paper, theoretical developments and computations have been applied mainly to the simulation of the firing of an advanced 120 mm lightweight tank demonstrator. In comparison with firing experiments, first computation validation results concerning interior ballistics, muzzle brake flow, sabot discard and blast wave propagation and reflection are presented and are very satisfactory.