Ballistically Initiated Fire Ball Generation Using M&S: Innovation Grant (Briefing Charts)

Evaluated EPIC & CTH codes initially for a simple case of sphere travelling at a high velocity impacting a liquid filled cylinder for which test results are published in the literature. EPIC was eliminated as a potential software due to the excessive amount of computational time required. CTH software from Sandia is used to simulate a EFP threat hitting a Bradley fuel tank filled with water placed on a test stand. Obtained preliminary results for the liquid ejection and energy deposited into the tank and fluid by the threat. Simulation results for the failure of the tank seem to qualitatively agree very well with the SWRI test results. Shock physics codes can not predict spray characteristics such as particle size and distribution. This phenomenon of primary and secondary break-up needs further study and also influence of factors such as pressure, surface tension, viscosity and turbulence on atomization. Atomization of fuel information can be specified as input into a Computational Fluid Dynamics code for fire suppression simulation. The original document contains color images.