Gast

ACCURACY MODELING OF THE 120MM M256 GUN AS
A FUNCTION OF BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE
BRIEFING FOR THE GUNS, AMMUNITION, ROCKETS &

MISSILES SYMPOSIUM - 25-29 APRIL 2005
Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War
RONALD G. GAST, PhD, P.E.

SPECIAL PROJECTS TEAM,
WEAPONS, SYSTEMS AND
TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE
Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

1
ACCURACY MODELING OF THE 120mm M256
GUN AS A FUNCTION OF BORE CENTERLINE
PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION FOR THE CONDUCTION OF

THIS STUDY
It is a well known fact that the centerline profile of the bore affects the in-bore
dynamics and exit conditions of the projectile.
The exit state of the projectile serves as initial conditions to the projectile’s
flight path to its intended target.
A relatively accurate and quick running model of this would be beneficial to
assess accuracy, especially for the newer, lightweight ordnance weapons.
Since simulations are just mathematical models of reality, validation is an
extremely important aspect of their use.
The subject weapon has a plethora of field generated experimental data
regarding accuracy and dispersion for several unique gun tubes.
We are submitting a validation effort of our modeling techniques through the
attempted reproduction of this data using dedicated models and statistics
knowing full well that replication of field generated data is most difficult.

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PROFILE
M1A2 TANK IN DESERT CAMOFLAUGE ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149

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PROFILE
DESCRIPTION OF THE ANALYSIS MODELS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
Simulation of Barrel Dynamics (SIMBAD)

A quick running finite element code, which employs beam elements for the gun
tube and a variety of options for modeling the projectile, mount and cradle.
Designed to predict the motion of the gun barrel and projectile during the firing
phase, ultimately passing the exit conditions of the projectile to the flight
prediction model.
Barrel employs three dimensional beam finite element structural representation
using an Euler-Bernoulli formulation.
Shot is represented as a two piece flexible structure consisting of a projectile
and sabot, both of which employ beam finite element formulation.
The dynamic equations for barrel, sabot and projectile are cast in a standard
matrix form.
Since this type of problem is highly non linear, a modified Runge-Kutta time
marching integration technique is employed.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
GUN BARREL MODEL IN SIMBAD FS15149
209 INCHES LONG
OFFSET
BREECH GUN SUPPORT POINTS
(~53 INCH WHEELBASE)
SIMBAD FINITE ELEMENT MODEL: 40 NODES; 41 ELEMENTS

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
PROJECTILE MODEL IN SIMBAD FS15149
GUN TUBE
FINS SABOT
PENETRATOR
FRONT BORE RIDER

REAR BORE RIDER

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PROFILE
DESCRIPTION OF THE ANALYSIS MODELS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
BOOM
A six degree of freedom (dof) rigid body aerodynamics code used to predict the
external flight path of ordnance projectiles.
The six dof’s are comprised of three body inertial position coordinates as well as
three Euler angle body attitudes.
The dynamic equations are written with respect to body a frame coordinate
system.
The total applied force is composed of weight and body aerodynamic force terms
(lift, drag, etc).
A considerable amount of empirical data (which is projectile dependent) used for
lift and drag calculations has been generated at the Army Research Lab Test
Center.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
RIGID PROJECTILE MODEL IN BOOM FS15149
r
II
θ
ψ
r
JI r
KI

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
DESCRIPTION OF THE ANALYSIS MODELS

TRANSFER OF DATA FROM SIMBAD TO BOOM
Each of the computer codes are stand-alone employing their own coordinate
systems.
An interface routine was developed through a coordinated effort among Benet
Labs and the developers of the two codes.
This routine employs several matrix equations to transfer projectile’s exit
conditions (i.e. displacement, velocity, etc) from the SIMBAD coordinate system
into the coordinate system used by BOOM.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
STATISTICAL METHODS FOR GENERATION OF SIMULATION DATA

BORE PROFILE FUNCTION
FUNCTIONAL FIT IS OVER CONSTRAINED
MEASUREMENT ERROR (PASSES THROUGH EACH DATA POINT)
DATA POINTS
FUNCTIONAL FIT IS UNDER CONSTRAINED

(MISSES MOST ERROR BARS)
MEASUREMENT ERROR
DATA POINTS
FUNCTIONAL FIT IS APPROPRIATELY CONSTRAINED

(PASSES THROUGH ERROR BARS
MEASUREMENT ERROR BUT NOT THROUGH EACH POINT)
DATA POINTS

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
ESTIMATION OF THE BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE FS15149
Bore profile centerline is derived from the inspection measurements

taken during manufacture. There are usually 23 points (xi , yi) along the
gun tube for which measurements are taken.
These measurements are used as the ‘data’ for a least squares
polynomial fit (pn) per the following equation:
pn(x) = ao + a1x + a2x2 + a3x3 + ….. + an-1xn-1 + anxn
Several polynomial fits are generated (i.e. n = 2,…,14)

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
ESTIMATION OF THE BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE FS15149
The coefficients for each polynomial order is determined by minimizing

the residual (defined below) for each fit.
22
Σ[y
i=0 i – pn(xi )]2
The change in residual from one order to the next is compared.

To determine which polynomial order yields the appropriate fit an F-test
is conducted.
When the improvement from consecutive orders does not change
significantly (using a 10% significance level) the lower order polynomial
is chosen and the testing is terminated.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE DATA AND POLYNOMIAL FIT

FOR TYPICAL GUN TUBE
BORE PROFILE HORIZONTAL DIRECTION BORE PROFILE VERTICAL DIRECTION

1.0 1.0
0.8 0.8
CENTERLINE PROFILE (mm)

0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0.0 0.0
-0.2 -0.2
-0.4 -0.4
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
AXIAL LOCATION FROM MUZZLE (mm) AXIAL LOCATION FROM MUZZLE (mm)

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149

BALLISTIC PRESSURE AND MUZZLE VELOCITY
Peak pressure and muzzle velocity was recorded for each round in the test.
Each round type and bore profile configuration was fired 3 times on 3 occasions.
This provided the basis for developing a random array of muzzle velocity scale
factors applied to the ballistic driving force for each simulated shot.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149

PROJECTILE STIFFNESS AND CLEARANCE
The front and rear bore rider diameters have nominal dimensions with tolerance
values as do any other engineered part.
A normal distribution of the diameters was assumed with the nominal value set at the
midpoint of the diameter range.
The standard deviation of the distribution was set at one-third of the tolerance which
would keep nearly all of the random diameter values within the tolerance range.
We had no way of knowing the actual values of these diameters.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
COMPARISON OF TEST DATA TO SIMULATED RESULTS
The simplest method of comparing simulations to test data is in the form of ‘target’
plots indicating the angular offset from the aim point of the data and simulations at
the target location.
These ‘target’ plots employ a 2.00 milli-radian square window with the aim point
shown as a green cross.
For each gun tube bore profile there are 3 sets of 3 shots each for the test data and a
10 shot simulation employing the statistical variances in the input values previously
discussed.
A total of 20 configurations were compared but only a few will be presented and
discussed here.

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PROFILE
TUBE #1: PROFILE ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
BORE PROFILE HORIZONTAL DIRECTION
0.8

0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR of TUBE (mm)
BORE PROFILE VERTICAL DIRECTION

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

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PROFILE
TUBE #1: LOAD / PROJECTILE DISTRIBUTIONS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
BALLISTIC LOAD DISTRIBUTION
1.0
PERCENT CHANGE
BALLISTICS (%)
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)
DISTRIBUTION IN DRIVE BAND DIAMETERS

0.2
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
DRIVE BAND (mm)
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)
DISTRIBUTION OF CENTERING BAND DIAMETERS
0.2
CENTERING BAND (mm)
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)

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PROFILE
RESULTS for TUBE #1: DATA ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
1.5
VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads) TEST DATA

1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
HORIZONTAL IMPACT (mil-rads)

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PROFILE
RESULTS for TUBE #1: DATA & SIMULATIONS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
1.5
VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads) TEST DATA

1.0
SIMULATIONS
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

ARDEC
21
PROFILE
TUBE #2: PROFILE ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
0.8

0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR FACE (mm)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR FACE (mm)

ARDEC
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PROFILE
TUBE #2: LOAD / PROJECTILE DISTRIBUTIONS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
1.0
PERCENT CHANGE
BALLISTICS (%)
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)
0.2
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
DRIVE BAND (mm)
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)
0.2
CENTERING BAND (mm)
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)

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PROFILE
FS15149
1.5
VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads)

TEST DATA
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

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PROFILE
FS15149
1.5

TEST DATA
1.0
0.5
SIMULATIONS
0.0
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

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PROFILE
TUBE #3 PROFILE ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
0.0

-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1.0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

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PROFILE
TUBE #3 LOAD / PROJECTILE DISTRIBUTIONS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
1.0
PERCENT CHANGE
BALLISTICS (%)
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)

0.2
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
DRIVE BAND (mm)
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)
0.2
CENTERING BAND (mm)
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)

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PROFILE
FS15149
1.5

1.0
0.5
0.0
TEST DATA
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

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PROFILE
FS15149
1.5

1.0
0.5 SIMULATIONS
0.0
TEST DATA
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

ARDEC
29
PROFILE
TUBE #4 PROFILE ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
0.8

0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

ARDEC
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PROFILE
TUBE #4 LOAD / PROJECTILE DISTRIBUTIONS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
1.0
PERCENT CHANGE
BALLISTICS (%)
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)

0.2
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
DRIVE BAND (mm)
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)
0.2
CENTERING BAND (mm)
DIAMETRAL CHANGE
TOLERANCE RANGE
0.1
0.0
-0.1
TOLERANCE RANGE
-0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SHOT NUMBER (--)

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PROFILE
FS15149
2.5
VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads) 2.0

TEST DATA
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

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PROFILE
FS15149
2.5

TEST DATA
1.5
1.0
SIMULATIONS
0.5
0.0
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
SUMMARY OF INDIVIDUAL TUBE RESPONSES
These four cases span the best to the worst in regard to accurately simulating
test results.
Reiterating considerable amount of data, which impacts the test is unknown.
Projectile specifications were ‘guessed’ using nominal values and tolerances.
As shown in the simulations, band diameters that are out of tolerance tend to
indicate shot impact locations that reside on the outskirts of group distributions.

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PROFILE
ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF PREDICTIONS AND TEST DATA
The analysis and discussion of these four cases does not allow one to claim the
validity of the model.
It would be impossible to predict with a great degree of reliability any one shot,
however, trends in shot patterns may offer more representative information.
To this end I suggest that we compare mean impact and dispersion values for the
test and simulation groups.
We have nearly 200 test and simulation shots to use in this averaging process.

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PROFILE
COMPILATION OF RESULTS FOR ALL 20 CASES ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
MEAN IMPACT LOCATIONS
FOR TEST DATA
1.0
0.5
0.0
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0


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PROFILE
MEAN IMPACT LOCATIONS FS15149
FOR SIMULATED RESULTS
1.0
0.5
0.0
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0


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37
PROFILE
DIFFERENCE IN MEAN VALUES FS15149
(TEST - SIMULATION)
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0


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PROFILE
DISPERSION VALUES FS15149
FOR TEST RESULTS

0.5
VERTICAL DISPERSION (mil-rads)

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
HORIZONTAL DISPERSION (mil-rads)

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PROFILE
DISPERSION VALUES FS15149
FOR SIMULATED RESULTS

0.5

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

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PROFILE
DIFFERENCE IN DISPERSION FS15149
(TEST - SIMULATION)
0.4

0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
-0.1
-0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
An attempt was made to validate coupled simulation routines for predicting

projectile impact locations as a function of the bore profile of the gun tube.
Predictions were made for individual shots as well as an averaging method
applied to groups of shots.
Mean and dispersion values were compared, the results of which indicated the
following:
In 70 percent of the cases the difference between predicted and
simulated mean values was equal to or less that 0.50mr
In 60 percent of the cases the difference between predicted and
simulated dispersion was less than 0.25mr
Given the level of uncertainty of several parameters we feel that these results are
quite good.

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ISO 9001 Certified
FS15149
rgast@pica.army.mil

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ACCURACY MODELING OF THE 120MM M256 GUN AS

A FUNCTION OF BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE

BRIEFING FOR THE GUNS, AMMUNITION, ROCKETS &

RONALD G. GAST, PhD, P.E.

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION FOR THE CONDUCTION OF

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Simulation of Barrel Dynamics (SIMBAD)

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

GUN BARREL MODEL IN SIMBAD FS15149

209 INCHES LONG

SIMBAD FINITE ELEMENT MODEL: 40 NODES; 41 ELEMENTS

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

PROJECTILE MODEL IN SIMBAD FS15149

FRONT BORE RIDER

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

DESCRIPTION OF THE ANALYSIS MODELS

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR GENERATION OF SIMULATION DATA

FUNCTIONAL FIT IS UNDER CONSTRAINED

FUNCTIONAL FIT IS APPROPRIATELY CONSTRAINED

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Bore profile centerline is derived from the inspection measurements

pn(x) = ao + a1x + a2x2 + a3x3 + ….. + an-1xn-1 + anxn

Several polynomial fits are generated (i.e. n = 2,…,14)

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

ESTIMATION OF THE BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE FS15149

The coefficients for each polynomial order is determined by minimizing

The change in residual from one order to the next is compared.

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

BORE CENTERLINE PROFILE DATA AND POLYNOMIAL FIT

BORE PROFILE HORIZONTAL DIRECTION BORE PROFILE VERTICAL DIRECTION

CENTERLINE PROFILE (mm)

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR GENERATION OF SIMULATION DATA

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR GENERATION OF SIMULATION DATA

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

COMPARISON OF TEST DATA TO SIMULATED RESULTS

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

CENTERLINE PROFILE (mm)

AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR of TUBE (mm)

BORE PROFILE VERTICAL DIRECTION

AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR of TUBE (mm)

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

DISTRIBUTION IN DRIVE BAND DIAMETERS

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads) TEST DATA

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads) TEST DATA

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

CENTERLINE PROFILE (mm)

AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR FACE (mm)

BORE PROFILE VERTICAL DIRECTION

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

AXIAL LOCATION FROM REAR FACE (mm)

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

Providing America Advanced Armaments for Peace and War ARDEC

VERTICAL IMPACT (mil-rads)