EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION AND SIMULATION OF A DUAL-STAGE SOLID-PROPELLANT GUN CONCEPT

A novel method for the acceleration of projectiles to hypervelocity is presented. The method utilizes two solid grain propellant charges whi ch are operated in tandem in a dual-stage mode. The second charge is e ncapsulated into a massive case which is placed adjacent to the projec tile. This stage is ignited at a time delay, after the first charge. E xperiments done on a 13-mm barrel demonstrate the feasibility of this acceleration scheme. Zero-dimensional simulations predict significant improvement over single-stage gun, using the same maximal pressure as imposed by conventional barrels. A specific calculation of a 0.48-kg p rojectile accelerated in a 4.4-m-long, 60-mm barrel predicts velocitie s over 2500 m/s.