Date of Award:

5-2013

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Thomas H. Fronk

Committee

Thomas H. Fronk

Committee

Steven Folkman

Committee

Jeijun Li

Abstract

By using composite materials and rubber overwrapped onto a steel liner, a new design for a gun barrel is investigated. Multiple configurations are analyzed and compared using the Finite Element Method and analytical solutions. By alternating layers of composite material and rubber over the steel liner, different reactions in the barrel are obtained when subjected to identical internal pressures from a projectile being fired. The ideal reaction desired from creating this new gun barrel is to dissipate energy more effectively than gun barrels made entirely of steel or overwrapped with just a composite material. The analyses show that multiple thin layers of rubber are more effective than fewer, thicker layers. It is also demonstrated that the direction in which the composite material is overwrapped in between each rubber layer has an effect on dissipating energy.

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