COMPUTER-AIDED-DESIGN OF AN ARTILLERY SYSTEM

This paper discusses the design approaches of an artillery system and the developments of a computer-aided design analysis that automates th e laborious and complicated design calculations for a complete howitze r artillery system. From the initial input of a gun configuration at z ero elevation and traversing angle, the analysis is capable of re-calc ulating the change in active dimensions, positions and internal reacti on forces of all the major sub-assemblies at any given new elevation a nd traversing angle. This greatly reduces the time taken to re-analyse the gun design for various gun configurations, with any design modifi cations. The analysis also provides a better understanding of the desi gn and characteristics of the gun as a whole because with these analys is tools the designer is able to examine the effects of any modified c omponents on other parts of the gun assembly with minimum time and eff ort.