Investigation of new applications for enhancement of gun barrel performance

Basically, what is expected from a weapon system is that it should be capable of firing the maximum number of shots in the shortest time, contain a larger amount of payload and deliver the ammunition to a greater distance. In addition, the mobility of the weapon system and its ability to move quickly within the area where it is used are also critically important for today's military applications. With the advancing technology, expectations regarding the speed and range of an ammunition used in today's weapon systems could be met by using new generation energetic propellants. The high pressure and temperature generated by such propellants require the barrels to have higher strength. Barrels subjected to higher pressures and temperatures require thicker walls to increase the strength's, which in turn increases the weight of the barrel and thus the weapon system. In order to overcome this disadvantage, a thesis study was carried out, which included a barrel lightening model. The barrel was autofretted at the optimum level for maximum pressure. Afterwards, considering the distribution of the temperature generated by the ammunition on the barrel wall, the wall thinning process was carried out for composite reinforcement application. As a result of the thesis study, the weight of a 105 mm heavy gun barrel with certain dimensions, which was 284.3 kg initial state, was reduced up to 182.4 kg with composite material reinforcement after autofrettage and wall thickness reduction. In this way, it has been shown by analytical and numerical calculations that the barrel can be safely lightened by 35.84 percent. When comparing the results of the analytical calculation and the finite element analysis, the results was found to be compatible with each other and with data in the literature. So, it is assessed that the data for a light and safe design of the barrel have been obtained.