A novel structure to inhibit barrel erosion induced by thermal effects in a propulsion system

Barrel erosion induced by thermal effects is an unavoidable issue in gun propulsion systems driven by internal combustion. Different from traditional schemes, a flow-collecting groove was proposed to inhibit barrel erosion induced by thermal effects. A coupled model of propellant combustion in a propulsion system was presented. The model can obtain both flow behaviors of combustion products and transient heat conduction in gun barrels. To validate the coupled model, numerical results were compared with analytical solutions. Based on the coupled model, the inhibition mechanism of the flow-collecting groove on barrel erosion was discussed. Results show that the groove changes the flow characteristics of fluid near the barrel surface. Meanwhile, the groove decreases the temperature peak of the gun barrel, which has a beneficial effect on the thermal safety of guns. Furthermore, the performances of grooves with different collecting cone angles were discussed to optimize the structural design. Finally, the inhibition effect of the groove on barrel erosion was verified by experiment. The use of the flow-collecting groove can reduce barrel erosion by 50%. The findings have a deep understanding of barrel erosion and will be used in the design of gun propulsion systems.