Study on the hazard resulting from fragments of detonated propelling charges

Abstract. Modern ammunition, rockets and missiles have propelling charges with significant quantities of different energetic materials, where different nitrocellulose-based propellants are the most often used. Propellants can be detonated also, where shock waves generated in air by an explosion are considered in safety assessments and many simple calculation methods are developed for engineering usage. After production and during storage, propelling charges are usually inside some kind of a metal case. If propelling charges are detonated, fragments with high velocity will be created, posing a very significant threat to surrounding personnel or objects. In this study, different propelling charges for high caliber artillery ammunition and rockets are considered. Gurney model of explosive output was used to evaluate the performance of fragments of different mass and dimensions. Detonation performances of nitrocellulose-based propellants were used, based on experimental and numerical results of previous studies. Results of fragmentation effect estimations were compared to the appropriate blast effect.