A Novel Method for Dynamic Pressure and Velocity Measurement Related to a Power Cartridge Using a Velocity Test Rig for Water-Jet Disruptor Applications

Power cartridges are gas generators utilised to drive a liquid projectile for disruption of suspect improvised explosive devices (IED’s). The purpose of a water-jet disruptor is to destroy the suspected IED. A novel method was devised for pressure measurement at the exit of the cartridge for launching liquid projectile. An experimental test set-up was designed and fabricated for measurement of projectile velocity and the propellant gas pressure in a velocity test rig (VTR). In these experiments, double base propellants having different physical and chemical properties were utilised to drive the solid projectile. This projectile was made of nylon material. This projectile velocity measurement is an important parameter in the armament field. An experimental study is the unique design feature. It is responsible for the measurement of pressure at the exit of the cartridge and the projectile velocity at the muzzle end of the barrel. The projectile velocity was measured using high speed photography. The pressure was measured using a pressure sensor. The maximum projectile velocities for spherical ball powder and NGB 051 Central European Journal of Energetic Materials ISSN 1733-7178; e-ISSN 2353-1843 Copyright © 2019 Sieć Badawcza Łukasiewicz – Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry, Poland 320 B.A. Parate, Y.B. Salkar, S. Chandel, H. Shekhar Copyright © 2019 Sieć Badawcza Łukasiewicz – Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry, Poland propellants have been experimentally measured as 384.23 m/s and 418.32 m/s, respectively. Experimentally the maximum pressures for spherical ball powder and NGB 051 propellants have been evaluated as 50.12 MPa and 63 MPa respectively from data gathered by the acquisition system. The standard deviation between the experimental and theoretical values for the projectile velocity varied from 12.57 to 13.88 for spherical ball powder whereas it was 5.33 to 7.09 for NGB 051 propellant. The percentage error between the experimental and the theoretical values of the projectile velocity was less than 10 for both propellants.