News Items - International Ballistics Society

32nd ISB Training Courses
Reno Training Program.
Courses in Terminal Ballistics, Exterior Ballistics, Explosion Mechanics and Interior Ballistics to be given by World Leading Ballisticians

The Education Committee (EC) is happy to announce the following four short courses at the upcoming 32nd ISB in Reno, Nevada, USA, on Monday, May 9th, 2022:

AM sessions (9 am to 1 pm)
• TB101: Introduction to Terminal Ballistics by Dr James Walker, SwRI, USA
• EB101: Introduction to Exterior Ballistics by Pierre Wey, ISL, France

PM sessions (2 pm to 6 pm)
• EM101: Introduction to Explosion Mechanics by Dr Meir Mayseless, Retired, Israel
• IB101: Introduction to Interior Ballistics and the Propellant Charge Design Process by Dr Sebastian Wurster, Fraunhofer ICT, Germany

TB101 – Introduction to Terminal Ballistics

This course given by Dr James Walker aims at:
• Convey basics of impact and penetration
• Present models and techniques, including results of numerical simulation
• Compare to experimental data

It is composed of the following contents:
• Fundamentals and definitions: Example problems on TB; Physics involved in impact, terminology, and important variables
• Some well-known analytical models in penetration of semi-infinite metallic targets: Tate; Cylindrical and spherical cavity expansion: Walker-Anderson, Forrestal; Particularities of finite thickness perforation, addressing scatter and uncertainty in modeling
• Material Considerations: Temperature, Pressure, Strain-Rate, Triaxiality effects; Metals, ceramics, fabrics, composites, foams
• Performing sound numerical simulations: Euler, SPH, Lagrange codes; Defining a material: Equation of State, Strength Model, Failure Model; Other considerations: initial conditions, boundary conditions, mesh, etc.

EB101 – Introduction to Exterior Ballistics

Objectives of this course given by Pierre Wey are:
• List of forces and moments acting on the projectile
• Summary of the trajectory models from vacuum ballistics to 6-DoF model
• Basic conditions for projectile stability

The course content is made up of:
• Introduction
• References systems
• Forces and moments acting on the projectile
• Gravity and atmospheric models
• Trajectory models: Vacuum ballistics; Point mass model; Modified point mass model; 6 degrees-of-freedom model
• Numerical integration of the equations of motion
• Typical examples of trajectories
• Linearized angular motion and stability of the projectile
• Trajectory dispersion and Monte Carlo simulation

EM101 – Introduction to Explosion Mechanics

The objectives of this course given by Dr Meir Mayseless are:
• General knowledge of various categories of warheads, i.e, Explosives and blast; Basic theory of shaped charges and jet penetration; Fragmentation and fragment acceleration
• Type of fragments including reactive fragments
• Introduction to reactive armor

Major contents of this course are:
• Why do we need different warhead types?
• Natural fragmentation and preformed fragment warhead design principles, including methods to control and direct the fragment number and vectors. The role of materials and their response under shock loading in driving the fracture and direction of the fragmentation process.
• Blast warheads: An understanding of the science of explosions and the characterization of the blast wave. The influence of stand-off and height above ground on the shape of the blast wave. How does a blast wave scale? – scaling laws, the role of explosive type TNT equivalence in comparing the effects of different explosives and charge shape. Experimental methods. The basic physics of the interaction of a blast wave with a structure and the methods employed to measure this interaction.
• The hollow charge effect – the precursor to the shaped charge. A brief history of the development of the shaped charge. Fundamental design principles and performance of a shaped charge, including the role of liner shape and material in defining the shape of the projectile produced – from the shaped charge jet to the slow stretching jet and explosively formed projectile. The penetration performance of a shaped charge and the importance of material properties and engineering tolerances in their manufacture.
• Warheads that contain energetic and reactive materials within a case and can penetrate structures and geologic targets. Their ability to deliver combined fragmentation and blast effects behind the target therefore provide a powerful concept for exploitation by the warhead designer. The basic principles of their design will be presented and discussed together with simple methods to understand the interaction of the blast and fragmentation fields.

IB101 – Introduction to Interior Ballistics and the Propellant Charge Design Process

People attending this course given by Dr Sebastian Wurster will:
• Gain a solid understanding of the necessary building blocks (burn rate models, form function, EOS, …), the currently available methods, algorithms and codes with their applications and limitations to conduct an interior ballistics simulation / characterization
• Learn how a new propellant charge is designed and optimized for a given gun system
• Gain knowledge of the state of the art in experimental burn rate characterization and can apply the findings about the ballistic compensation effect

A summary of course contents are listed below:
• Introduction to Interior Ballistics
• Burn rate models
• Form Functions
• Equation of State and thermodynamics
• Lumped Parameter Model for Closed Vessel Calculations
• Burn Rate Characterization Basics
• Analytic Model for the Dynamic Vivacity
• Advanced Burn Rate Characterization
• Interior Ballistic Design Process for Propellants
• Outlook on advance models

Further information
Each course costs $300 except for TB101 which costs $400. Course costs are not included in the symposium registration fee. Each attendee will receive PowerPoint slides distributed as a hardcopy and / or electronically. For TB101, the recently published book by James Walker will be included in this course fee. We pursue a hybrid approach for members personally attending on-site and a parallel, interactive live stream to registered attendees. Recorded courses may be offered between symposia to Society members.

Course registration can be made either during registration for the conference or on-site in Reno.
We look forward to your feedback and any questions you may have through sending a email to education@ballistics.org.

Dr. Markus Graswald
Education Committee Chair

Published: 12/17/21