Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373

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Defence Technology
journal homepage: www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/defence-technology

Study on performance degradation and failure analysis of machine

gun barrel
Xiaolong Li*, Lei Mu, Yong Zang, Qin Qin**
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An increase in the use of the gun barrel will cause wear of the inner wall, which reduces the muzzle
Received 10 April 2019 velocity and the spin rate of the projectile. The off-bore flight attitude and trajectory of the projectile also
Received in revised form change, affecting the shooting power and the accuracy. Exterior ballistic data of a high-speed spinning
26 April 2019
projectile are required to study the performance change. Therefore, based on the barrel's accelerated life
Accepted 17 May 2019
test, the whole process of projectile shooting is reproduced using numerical simulation technology, and
Available online 22 May 2019
key information on the ballistic performance change at each shooting stage are acquired. Studies have
shown that in the later stages of barrel shooting, the accuracy of shooting has not decreased significantly.
Keywords:
Wear of the inner wall
However, it is found that the angle of attack of the projectile increases as the wear of the barrel increases.
Accelerated life test The maximum angle of attack reaches 0.106 rad when the number of shots reaches 4300. Meanwhile,
Numerical simulation elliptical bullet hole has appeared on the target at this shooting stage. Through combining external
Ballistic performance ballistic theory with simulation results, the primary reason of this phenomenon is found to be a sig-
End of the barrel life nificant decrease in the muzzle spin rate of the projectile. At the end of the barrel life, the projectile
muzzle spin rate is 57.5% lower than that of a barrel without wear.
© 2020 China Ordnance Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi
Communications Co. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Wear in the inside of a barrel can lower the restraint and guiding
effect of the interior ballistics on a projectile, which further results
in negative effects on the exterior ballistic performance parameters
of the projectile, such as projectile velocity, flight attitude, and
shooting accuracy. Therefore, the degradation mechanism of the
ballistic performance can be effectively grasped by studying and
analyzing the various performance parameters of the projectile's
external flight, and the service life of the gun can be improved in a
targeted manner.
High-speed flight tests based on special experimental devices
have been widely used to investigate the ballistic performance of
the projectiles in question. At present, experimental studies on the
flight attitude and trajectory of a projectile primarily rely on the
image acquisition method [1e3], the photoelectric detection
* Corresponding author. School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science
and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: beikeswift@163.com (X. Li), qinqin@me.ustb.edu.cn (Q. Qin).
Peer review under responsibility of China Ordnance Society
method [4,5], and the sensor telemetry method [6]. Generally, these
methods are endowed with high measurement accuracies. How-
ever, the associated devices usually incur relatively high operation
and maintenance costs. Additionally, they have to be coupled with
specialized post-processing software for data analysis. To circum-
vent this predicament, a relatively complete theoretical framework
for describing the exterior ballistic behavior of a projectile has been
established with the help of traditional theoretical mechanics,
aerodynamics, and other disciplines [7e9]. As for the problem of
the ballistic trajectory with a long range, the projectile can be
approximated to be a small particle without considering its special
geometrical features, which helps in developing its corresponding
mathematical trajectory model, as exemplified in Refs. [10,11].
However, it is necessary to carefully consider the geometrical fea-
tures of a projectile when its motion attitude is the main concern.
Currently, deviations between theoretically calculated and experi-
mentally measured projectile trajectories still exist owing to a
number of reasons, which stresses the need to improve current
theoretical frameworks to obtain more accurate predictions [12].
With the continuous improvement in computer technology,
numerical simulation has become an efficient and economical tool
to study the aerodynamic characteristics, the stability, and the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2019.05.008
2214-9147/© 2020 China Ordnance Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-
ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373
flight path of the projectile, especially for its interior and exterior
ballistic performance. Effects of slug material [13], rotating band
construction [14,15] on the ballistic performance and dynamic
analysis of gun barrel [16e19] have been discussed with the help of
finite element analysis (FEA). For small caliber pistols, S. Deng et al.
[20,21] performed FEA on the motion of the projectile in a barrel
bore. The model accurately reflected the rotation, nicking, and
stress of the projectile. Based on computational fluid dynamics, the
effects on aerodynamic coefficients such as projectile structure
[22,23], projectile-solid surface distance [24], the muzzle velocity of
the projectile [25], and the Magnus torque of the projectile [26]
have been studied. In light of the fact that the projectile demon-
strates little deformation during its off-bore flight, it can be
assumed to be a rigid body. Based on this assumption, Leonard C.
et al. [27] established an optimized projectile linear theory for rapid
prediction of projectile trajectories. Gao et al. [28] considered the
interaction between the missile's nose and body; an integrated
rigid dynamic model of a deflectable nose missile was set up by
using rootless multi-rigid-body system dynamics in the quasi-body
coordinates. Zhang et al. [29] described the laws on the impact of an
exterior ballistic trajectory by the deflection of the nose of the
missile. Based on the coupled computational fluid dynamics/rigid
body dynamics technique, J. Sahu [30] achieved flight trajectory
simulations for a supersonic wing projectile and a subsonic spin-
ning projectile. In a previous study by Scheuermann E. et al. [31],
the microspoiler control mechanism of a highly maneuverable
projectile was systematically investigated.
To clarify the ballistic performance degradation mechanism,
overcome the inherent defects of the barrel, and ultimately opti-
mize the barrel life, a reasonable establishment of the correlation
between the worn machine gun barrel and the ballistic perfor-
mance is required. This aspect has not been reported in the liter-
ature and thus constitutes the main objective of the current study.
To this end, a worn gun barrel model is proposed in conjunction
with an accelerated life test. With the help of classic exterior bal-
listic aerodynamics theory, the muzzle velocity and spin rate of the
projectile, as well as the flight attitude and the dispersion intensity,
are studied. The prediction of the proposed model matches well
with the actual test data. The current study could help shed light
upon the intrinsic reason responsible for the barrel life. Addition-
ally, the established methodology could benefit the prediction of
ballistic performance under different levels of barrel wear.
2. Accelerated life test
2.1. Failure criteria of the gun barrel
The barrel life is a key parameter of an automatic weapon, it
Table 1
Mechanical properties of barrel material.
Tensile strength/MPa Yield strength/MPa
986 933
Fig. 1. Schematic of gun barrel section.
363
represents the total number of bullets shot by the automatic
weapon until it no longer satisfies the requirement of ballistic
performance. To determine the life of the machine gun barrel, the
following barrel failure criteria were used:
(1) Muzzle velocity-based criterion (MBC). The coil target is used
to measure the muzzle velocity. The muzzle velocity is
measured at each stage of the life test. The average value is
obtained by measuring 10 rounds each time. Barrel failure
occurs when a decrease of 15% in muzzle velocity is observed
with respect to the original value.
(2) Elliptical bullet hole ratio-based criterion (EBC). When the
ratio of the major axis to the minor axis of the bullet hole on
the target is greater than 1.25, it is considered as an elliptical
bullet hole. Taking 20 rounds as a group, when the elliptical
bullet hole ratio exceeds 50% of the number of shots, it is
determined that the barrel is invalid.
(3) Dispersion intensity-based criterion (DBC). Three groups (20
rounds per group) are fired continuously on the ground
target, and the average radius of the 50% projectile (R50) is
taken. The dispersion intensity at the end of the barrel life is
taken as the continuous three-target average, R50
300 mm.
2.2. Test data
Accelerated life test on a 12.7 mm caliber machine gun was
carried out using the standard firing code [32], to study the life
trend for machine gun barrels. The mechanical properties of barrel
material are shown in Table 1. The muzzle velocity drop rate, the
elliptical bullet hole rate and the dispersion intensity were evalu-
ated after a certain number of shots to determine whether the
barrel meets the failure criterion.
Fig. 1 is a sectional-view sketch of the barrel structure. The
rifling starting point was defined as the rear part of barrel and the
outlet of barrel was defined as the front part. In the process of the
barrel accelerated life test, the rear part of the barrel, especially the
rifling starting point, endured the strong extrusion effects of high-
temperature and high-pressure gunpowder gas, and the actions of
the projectile during the shooting process. With the increase in
number of projectiles, the chromium layer was seriously eroded,
and the matrix material began to show signs of serious scouring
ditches, as shown in Fig. 2. The projectile caused wear of the rifling
during it moving in the barrel. The front part of the end-of-life
barrel was severely worn and the caliber was significantly
increased. It was also found that bore exit of the worn barrel was
elliptical, as shown in Fig. 3.
The axial wear of the bore could be divided into three basic
Section shrinkage/% Elongation/%
63.5 17.75
364 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373

Fig. 2. Surface topography of rear part of the bore: (a) New barrel; (b) End-of-life barrel [32].

Fig. 3. Front section of the barrel: (a) New barrel; (b) End-of-life barrel [32].

areas, namely, the severe wear zone, the slight wear zone, and the
muzzle wear zone. Due to the high temperature and pressure of the
gunpowder gas and the projectile extrusion, the chromium layer on
the back of the barrel typically eroded seriously, displaying obvious
erosion ditches. This was the serious wear zone. The inner surface
of the front part of the barrel was partially cracked, and the inter-
section between land and groove lines was accompanied by small
pieces of the chromium layer eroding away. This was the muzzle
wear zone. The middle part of the barrel was a slight wear zone,
which showed only slight erosion and uniform wear. In the life test,
the change in bore groove line diameter in the barrel was measured
using different caliber gauges, and the depth of entry of each gauge
was recorded. The wear data for the bore at each shooting stage is
shown in Fig. 4. The length of the serious wear zone along the axis
of the barrel was shorter, while the length of the muzzle wear zone
exceeded half of the barrel length. The data points for the severe
wear zone and slight wear zone were basically linear distributions,
while the data points for the muzzle wear zone were relatively
scattered, which indicated that there was uneven wear and drum-
shaped deformation within the bore. Considering the radial con-
straints of the projectile when it was out of the bore, and for the
convenience of subsequent modeling, the first and last data points
for the muzzle wear zone were connected using a linear fitting
method. The maximum relative error for the four firing stages was
only 0.16%, which verified the accuracy of the fitting.
3. Ballistic modeling
3.1. Mesh model
This study carried out parametric modeling based on the Python
language for the 12.7 mm caliber rifled barrel, considering the in-
fluence of the mesh accuracy of the traditional three-dimensional
model when building the barrel wear model (Fig. 5). The specific
process can be summarized as follows:
(1) The sectional morphology of the barrel section was estab-
lished based on the Abaqus software package, and the grid
unit was divided.
(2) Based on the Python programming language, the section
mesh was stretched to the length of the barrel and each node
was rotated according to the rifle helical angle. The number
of layers in the axial sliced grid section of the barrel was
defined as M, and the axial length L0 of the barrel corre-
sponding to one cycle of the rifle line rotation can be
expressed as:
pD
L0 ¼ (1)
tan b
Then the expression of the rotation angle b0 of each layer of the
 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373 365

Fig. 4. Wear data for the bore.

Fig. 6. Rifling radius of gun barrel wear.

Fig. 5. Parametric modeling flowchart.

Then, the radius ri of the rifling line corresponding to each po-

grid is: sition C in the axial direction could be expressed as

8
< r1 ¼ ðC1  CÞtanq1 C  C1
Lb r ¼D=2 C1 < C < C2
b0 ¼ tan b (2) : 2
(3)
M pD r3 ¼ ðC  C2 Þtanq2 C
C2
where L is the full length of the barrel. The offset of each node on the inner wall of the corresponding
barrel was D/2-ri.
(3) Based on the Python programming language, the wear
segment nodes were processed by migration. The length of (4) The mesh model of the worn barrels was shown in Fig. 7. In
the wear section at the rear of the barrel was C1, the field addition, the projectile mesh was generated based on
angle was q1, the length of the middle wear section was HyperMesh software, as shown in Fig. 8. Mesh type were
jC2eC1j, the length of the front wear section was jL-C2j, and hexahedral reduced integral solid element (C3D8R) for both
the field angle was q2, as shown in Fig. 6. the barrel and projectile.
366 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373

Fig. 7. Mesh model of the worn barrel.

Fig. 8. Mesh model of the projectile.

3.2. Material properties
The barrel is made of high strength steel, while the projectile
shell and the projectile core, respectively, made of copper and steel.
The material type in this study is set to isotropic elastic-plastic
without failure. The mechanical properties of the relevant mate-
rials are shown in Table 2.
velocity between the contact surfaces. The surface of the projectile
shell melts at a high speed, which changes the lubrication mech-
anism between the metals. The materials in this study are basically
consistent with reference [21,33]. Thus, the dynamic coefficient of
friction between the projectile shell and the inner bore is set to 0.1.
3.4. Interior ballistic load

3.3. Contact
The “surface-to-surface” contact type is used to define the
projectile shell and the inner bore of the barrel. Modern tribology
studies suggest that the friction factor is related to the pressure and
The interior ballistic process includes the engraving process and
in-bore motion of the projectile. The radial dimension is signifi-
cantly increased due to the wear of the barrel. Generally speaking,
the engraving pressure p0 of the projectile will decrease and the use
of propellant energy will be less efficient [34]. Moreover, the

Table 2
Mechanical properties of the gun barrel and projectile.

Material type Elastic modulus/GPa Shear modulus/Gpa Density/(kg$m3) Poisson's ratio Yield stress/MPa

Barrel steel 206 80 7850 0.29 933

Copper 108 44 8800 0.35 115
Steel 210 79 7850 0.29 352
 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373 367

projectile in this study has no driving band, and the band is the applied on the projectile in all phases of computation. Thermal
main factor that causes the engraving pressure. Therefore, the effects including thermal loads are not modeled.
engraving pressure can be ignored and the initial position of the
projectile is assumed to be at the engraving completion point [35].
In order to determine the in-bore motion of the projectile, the 3.5. External ballistic load
breech pressure p acting on the bottom of projectile is coupled with
an interior ballistic code. The interior ballistic equations are as The projectile is always subjected to a vertical gravitational
follows [36,37]: force, which equals its weight times the gravitational acceleration.
In the plane of the angle of attack, the total aerodynamic force R can
8 8 be decomposed into resistance, Rx, which is along the reverse
>
> >
>
> >
> cZð1 þ lZ þ mZ 2 Þ ðZ < 1Þ speed, and lift, Ry, that is perpendicular to the direction of the ve-
>
> <
>
> locity [41]. The external ballistic load of the projectile is illustrated
>
> j ¼ cs Zð1 þ ls ZÞ ð1  Z  Zk Þ
>
> >
> in Fig. 9.
>
> >
:
>
> 1 ðZ
Zk Þ When operating at a supersonic speed, the air resistance applied
>
>
>
> 8
>
> to the projectile primarily includes the friction drag owing to the air
>
> > u1 pn ðZ < Zk Þ
>
>
> dZ < e1 viscosity, the vortex drag generated by the bottom vortex, and the
>
< ¼ shock wave drag generated by the shock of the warhead. According
dt > :
0 ðZ
Zk Þ (4) to aerodynamics theory, the expression of air resistance Rx is:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> v¼
dl rv2
>
> dt Rx ¼ Scx0 (6)
>
> 2
>
>
>
> dv
> Sp ¼ 4m
> where r is the air density, v the velocity of the projectile relative to
>
> dt
>
>
>
> the air, S the characteristic area, and cx0 the resistance coefficient.
>
> k1
> Spðlj þ lÞ ¼ f uj 
: 4mv2 The resistance coefficient is the summation of the friction drag
2 coefficient cxf, the vortex drag coefficient cxb, and the shock wave
drag coefficient cxw:
where J is the relative burnt mass of the propellant; Z is the
relative thickness of the burning gunpowder; c, l and m are the cx0 ¼ cxf þ cxb þ cxw (7)
shape-dependent constants of the propellant; u1 is the constant
burning rate of propellant; e1 is the original thickness of propellant; When the angle of attack d is not zero, the drag coefficient is as
n is the burning rate index; v is the velocity of the projectile; l is the follows.
length of travel of the projectile; S is the cross-sectional area of the
cx ¼ cx0 þ ðc0y þ 0:5cx0 Þd
2
worn barrel bore; 4 is the secondary power coefficient; m is the (8)
mass of the projectile; lJ is the neck length of the free volume of the
chamber; f is the force of the gunpowder explosion; u is the mass of where cy' is the derivative of the lift coefficient.
the propellant; k is the adiabatic index. The lift of the projectile is perpendicular to the relative speed in
Owing to the pressure gradient in the space behind a projectile, the plane of the angle of attack, and the expression of the lift Ry is:
a model to describe the relationship between breech pressure and
the projectile base pressure ps was proposed [38], as shown in Eq. rv2
Ry ¼ Scy (9)
(5): 2

where cy is the lift coefficient.

p u
¼1 þ (5) The total aerodynamic force R can also be decomposed into an
ps 2f1 m
axial force RA along the projectile axis and a normal force Rn
perpendicular to the projectile axis. The normal force coefficient cn
where 41 the losses coefficient (for small arms 1.05e1.1).
of the projectile can be expressed as the sum of the head normal
Based on Eq. (1) and Eq. (2), the interior ballistic calculation is
force coefficient cnn, the tail normal force coefficient cnt, and the
programmed by means of user subroutine VUAMP [35,39], and the
viscous normal force coefficient cnf, namely:
fourth-order Runge-Kutta method [40] is used to solve the interior
ballistic equations. Coupling with the calculation results of ABA- cn ¼ cnn þ cnt þ cnf (10)
QUS, including the displacement and velocity of the projectile, the
base pressure ps of the projectile is acquired. In addition, gravity is When the angle of attack d is small, the lift coefficient cy can be

Fig. 9. Diagram of the off-bore load of the projectile.

368 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373

Fig. 10. Stress distribution of the projectile as it is squeezed into the barrel.

expressed by the normal force coefficient cn of the projectile:

cy zcn cos d (11)

The resistance and lift coefficients are determined according to
the projectile structure and the angle of attack at the muzzle.
Owing to the short firing distance, the effects of dynamic aero-
dynamic forces on the projectile are not considered in the model.

4. Verification and discussion

4.1. Posture of the projectile squeezed into the gun

Before the accelerated life test, there was no gap between the
bore and the projectile surface. The projectile was in uniform
Fig. 11. Muzzle velocity of the projectile.
contact with the bore when it was squeezed into the barrel, as
shown in Fig. 10(a). Owing to the increase in barrel tail aperture
caused by barrel wear, the projectile loses its ideal orientation, and the rifling, the spin rate (u) of the projectile can be theoretically
the center of the projectile no longer coincides with that of the described by u ¼ v  tanb/r, where b is the angle of the rifling, and r
barrel. Therefore, as the barrel wear increases, the initial contact
area of the projectile and the rifling changes as the projectile is
squeezed into the barrel, as shown in Fig. 10(b). This eventually
results in an uneven scoring on the projectile and reduced sym-
metry and roundness.

4.2. Projectile muzzle velocity and spin rate

The muzzle velocity (v) of the projectile at different firing stages

is shown in Fig. 11. The maximum relative error between the
simulation results and the test data is 1.27%, which verifies the
accuracy of the model. The muzzle velocity of the projectile in the
unworn barrel is 807 m/s, and when the number of shots reaches
4300, the muzzle velocity of the projectile is 765 m/s. The decline
rate of velocity was 5.2%, which did not meet the criteria (MBC) for
the end of the barrel.
In the case where the projectile represents a good contact with Fig. 12. Muzzle spin rate of the projectile.
 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373 369

4.3. Projectile flight attitude and elliptical bullet hole ratio

The vertical and horizontal displacement curves of the projectile

head in the axial movement of the barrel are shown in Fig. 13 and
Fig. 14, respectively. The projectile oscillates vertically when it runs
in the bore affected by barrel wear and gravity. The maximum
vertical displacement is 0.42 mm at 4300 rounds. Owing to the spin
of the projectile in the barrel, the fluctuation in the vertical direc-
tion is transmitted to the horizontal direction, and the fluctuation
range in the horizontal direction gradually increases. Combined
with the swing data in the projectile, it is found that the nutation of
the projectile has a certain periodicity. In addition, the vertical
displacement y0 and the initial angle of attack d0, when the pro-
jectile exits are somewhat random, are related to the wear condi-
tion of the barrel, as shown in Table 3.
Fig. 13. Vertical displacement of the projectile head during in-bore flight. The overturning moment is dominant among all the air mo-
ments, and the angular motion, considering only the overturning
moment, is the following equation [41]:

00
D  iP D0  MD ¼ 0 (12)

where D is the angle of attack, P is the gyro speed term, which

reflects the strength of the gyro effect of the projectile, and M is the
overturning moment.

(1) When there is only the initial angle of attack d0, the angle of
attack equation is:

Fig. 14. Horizontal displacement of the projectile head during in-bore flight.
D ¼ ½K1 eiðu1 sþpÞ þ K2 eiu2 s ein0 (13)

Where,
the radius of projectile. Note that the current experimental device
could not provide a reliable way for measuring the muzzle spin rate
of the projectile. Therefore, the muzzle spin rates are only .pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
compared between theoretical results and simulation ones, as P P 2  4M H1 1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
shown in Fig. 12. In fact, the theoretical result is obtained from the K 1;2 ¼ d0 ; u1;2 ¼ ðP ± P 2  4M Þ (14)
2 2
previously calculated muzzle velocity (v). It is observed that, in
simulations, the muzzle spin rate declined significantly with the The maximum amplitude and minimum amplitude of the angle
increase of wear. This tendency is believed to be caused by the of attack are:
wear-induced degradation caused by the contact between the
projectile and the rifling. The muzzle spin rate was 3480.5 rad/s
when the number of shots reached 4300, which was 57.5% lower
than that of the unworn barrel.
On one hand, the muzzle-velocity of a projectile is negatively
affected by an increase in the barrel caliber, which leads to a
decrease in the projectile-barrel seal and the base pressure. On the
other hand, the radial swing of the projectile in the bore increases
the resistance of the projectile to forward movement, which leads
to a further decrease in the muzzle velocity of the projectile. The
muzzle spin rate decreases with a decrease in muzzle velocity.
Meanwhile, owing to the wear on the bore, the mechanical fit be-
tween rifling and the projectile becomes progressively worse, along
with the guidance constraint, which aggravates the impact on the
spin rate of the projectile.

Table 3
Muzzle parameters of the projectile.

1200 rounds 2100 rounds 3000 rounds 4300 rounds

y0/mm 0.079 0.044 0.276 0.269

d0/rad 0.00166 0.00239 0.00259 0.00136
Fig. 15. Angle of attack during the projectile off-bore flight.
370 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373

Table 4
Disturbance parameters.

1200 rounds 2100 rounds 3000 rounds 4300 rounds

dm 0.026 0.027 0.054 0.106

dð$Þ0/v0(rad/m) 0.0013 0.0014 0.0015 0.0014
ud(1/m) 0.085 0.08 0.046 0.023

Fig. 16. Tail view of the projectile on the target.

Table 5
The ratio of long axis to short axis of the projectile on the target.

Shooting number Simulation results Experiment data (L/S > 1.25)

Long axis (L)/mm Short axis (S)/mm Ratio (L/S)

1200 rounds 13.62 12.7 1.072 <50%

2100 rounds 13.68 12.7 1.077 <50%
3000 rounds 14.72 12.7 1.159 <50%
4300 rounds 16.1 12.7 1.268 55%

(2) When there is only the initial angle of attack speed dð $Þ0, the
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi angle of attack equation is:

dm ¼ ðK1 þ K2 Þ2 ¼ d0 1  4M P 2 ; dn ¼ ðK1  K2 Þ2
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2d_ 0 P 2  4M
ffi eið2 vtþy0 Þ sinð
D ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
P
¼ d0 vtÞ (16)
P 2  4M ,v 2
(15)
The oscillation angular frequency ud and the amplitude dm with
the arc length as variables are respectively:
 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi.
ud ¼ P 2  4M 2
. pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi . tion angle frequency ud. The data in Table 4 show that dð $Þ0/v0 is
dm ¼ 2d_ 0 ð P 2  4Mv0 Þ ¼ d_ 0 ðud v0 Þ
The data of the off-bore flight attitude of the projectile were
extracted, and the angle of attack of was obtained, as shown in
Fig. 15. It can be seen from the figure that during exterior ballistics,
the angle of attack dm appears to oscillate periodically. The
maximum angle of attack increased significantly as the wear of the
gun barrel increases. The angle of attack at 4300 rounds was 4.07
times that of 1200 rounds. According to Eq. (15), at the disturbance
caused by the initial angle of attack, the maximum angle of attack
dm is affected by the initial angle of attack d0, as well as the tipping
moment M and the gyro speed term P. Table 3 shows that the initial
angle of attack of the projectile at different firing stages is small and
exhibits some randomness. According to Eq. (18), when there is a
Fig. 17. Space trajectory of the projectile without gravity.
Fig. 18. Space trajectory of the projectile with gravity.
371
disturbance caused by the initial angle of attack speed, the
(17) maximum angle of attack dm depends on the ratio of the initial
angle of attack and the muzzle velocity (dð $Þ0/v0), and the oscilla-
(18) basically the same for the projectiles of each shooting stage, and the
oscillation angular frequency ud decreases from 0.085/m to 0.023/
m. Therefore, the reduction in the spin rate of the projectile and the
corresponding increase in the overturning moment of the projectile
are the fundamental reasons for the significant increase in the
angle of attack of the projectile.
Fig. 16 shows the final state of the projectile by simulation when
it was fired onto the target. The long and short axis ratios corre-
sponding to each shooting stage were obtained by calculating the
lengths of the long and the short axes of the projectile on the target.
The long and short axis ratio of the projectile was 1.268 (exceeding
the threshold of 1.25) at 4300 rounds, which is considered as an
Fig. 19. Falling point of the projectile without gravity.
Fig. 20. Falling point of the projectile with gravity.
372 X. Li et al. / Defence Technology 16 (2020) 362e373
Fig. 21. Falling point radius and dispersion intensity.
elliptical bullet hole. The elliptical bullet hole ratio analysis was
carried out on the test gun barrel, and the number of projectiles per
group was 20 rounds. The test barrel showed 11 elliptical bullet
holes at 4300 rounds, and the elliptical bullet hole ratio was 55%
[28], exceeding the 50% index (EBC), as shown in Table 5, and the
barrel was declared invalid. Although the simulation cannot reflect
the randomness in the actual shooting process, it is in good
agreement with the experimental results from the calculated atti-
tude of the projectile target, which verifies the accuracy of the
simulation process.
4.4. Projectile trajectory and shooting accuracy
In the simulation, only the shooting elevation angle 4 ¼ 0 and
the aerodynamic hop angle caused by the initial disturbance at the
muzzle were considered. In addition, the ballistic trajectory and the
projectile placement will be affected by the gravity factor. There-
fore, it was divided into two cases, viz., without gravity and with
gravity, as shown in Fig. 17 and Fig. 18, respectively. The condition
without gravity can be considered as the elevation angle raised by
the shooter during the actual shooting, so that the projectile was
closer to the center of the target. The distance between the pro-
jectile on the target and the target center was 21.84 mm (without
gravity) and 32.57 mm (with gravity) at 4300 rounds, as shown in
Fig. 19 and Fig. 20, respectively.
Dispersion intensity refers to the deviation degree of a group of
projectiles' falling point from the dispersion center. The average
dispersion intensity R50 of the test barrel was 158 mm at 4300
rounds [28], which did not reach the barrel failure criterion (DBC).
The simulated falling point of the projectile can only reflect the
shooting accuracy of a certain projectile, and it cannot reflect the
random phenomenon caused by factors such as the state of the
shooter, the shooting environment, and the vibration of the barrel.
Although the two concepts are not identical, the falling point
(simulation result) and the dispersion intensity (test data) reflect
the firing accuracy to a certain extent. Fig. 21 shows the falling point
radius (distance of the falling point to the target center) and the
dispersion intensity at each shooting stage. It can be found that the
increase in the number of shots does not cause a significant change
in the falling point radius and dispersion intensity of the projectile.
This indicates that the wear variation of the test gun barrel has a
limited effect on the accuracy of the shot.
5. Conclusions
(1) The projectile collides with the bore owing to the loss of
radial positioning when the projectile is squeezed into the
worn barrel. This causes the projectile head to oscillate
vertically, and the vertical oscillating displacement increases
as the degree of wear increases. The maximum vertically
displacement is 0.42 mm at 4300 rounds.
(2) Neither the accelerated life test nor the simulation results
show that the muzzle velocity of the projectile reached the
barrel failure criteria. However, the restriction of rifling on
the projectile guidance becomes worse, and the projectile
spin rate decreases significantly. The muzzle spin rate u was
3480.5 rad/s at 4300 rounds, which was 57.5% lower than
that of the unworn barrel.
(3) The projectiles showed an increase in the angle of attack at
the muzzle of worn barrel with an increase in the number of
shots. The angle of attack dm reached a maximum of
0.106 rad at 4300 rounds. The drop in the muzzle spin rate of
the projectile reduced its ability to resist flipping, which ul-
timately led to the elliptical bullet hole ratio exceeding the
life threshold.
(4) There is no obvious change in the falling point radius and
dispersion intensity during the whole barrel life process.
Therefore, the projectile dispersion does not accurately
reflect the performance degradation of the test barrel.
Acknowledgments
The present work was financially supported by Beijing Key
Laboratory for Corrosion-Erosion and Surface Technology, Beijing
Municipal Education Commission Project (SYS100080419).
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