Design and analysis of a greener disposal system for energetic materials and munitions

Demilitarization is becoming more and more significant in management of the munitions since all munitions have a finite lifetime and these munitions can reach their service life for a variety of reasons such as; the process of natural aging, becoming obsolete due to the development of new systems, becoming surplus because of the changed requirements or requirement to be destroyed owing to international agreements. Military munitions, pyrotechnics, and vehicle airbag propellants are examples of energetic materials, which contain a large quantity of stored chemical energy that can be released. In this study, it has been aimed to review available demilitarization process, asses their environmental impact and identify their advantages and disadvantages. The study is primarily focus on disassembly, removal of energetics and destruction phases. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses has been carried out for the multiphase flow of the water-explosive slurry and flow behavior in different configurations has been investigated. Results of the analysis are discussed considering sensitivity of energetic material in these configurations.