NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SABOT SEPARATION OF KINETIC ENERGY (KE) PROJECTILE

Abstract

Fin Stabilized Armor Piercing Discarding Sabots (FSAPDS) are kinetic energy (KE) projectiles fired from Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) primarily meant to defeat armored tanks with the help of its high strength penetrator which pierces the armor plate due to its high impact velocity. The penetrator is usually made of tungsten alloy and are wrapped by 3 sabots, in general. Sabots support and accommodate the round within the barrel bore, as the penetrator has caliber lesser than the bore of the barrel. When the projectile comes out of the barrel, sabots separate under the action of aerodynamic forces. During separation, the projectile is exposed to higher supersonic flow (Mach   5) and complex flow behavior is observed due to formation of strong aerodynamic shocks and flow stagnation. Smooth separation is one of the critical parameters which governs the trajectory of the penetrator and its successful penetration on the armor. Aerodynamic disturbances imparted during separation, will also decide the accuracy of the penetrator. Therefore, external profile of sabot as well as other parameters such as mass, location of center of gravity, inertial properties etc., are required to be critically considered during design so that the sabots can quickly separate with minimal aerodynamic disturbances imparted to the penetrator. In this study, the sabot separation is carried out using CFD and the results are presented. This can help researchers to understand the sabot separation phenomenon in details, providing insight about the effectiveness of CFD to analyze the critical aspects of sabot separation.