In recent times, warfighting has been taking place not in far-removed areas but within urban environments. As a
consequence, the modern warfighter must adapt. Currently, an effort is underway to develop shoulder-mounted rocket
launcher rounds suitable with reduced acoustic signatures for use in such environments. Of prime importance is to
ensure that these acoustic levels, generated by propellant burning, reflections from enclosures, etc., are at tolerable levels
without requiring excessive hearing protection. Presented below is a proof-of-concept approach aimed at developing a
computational tool to aid in the design process. Unsteady, perfectly-expanded-jet simulations at two different Mach
numbers and one at an elevated temperature ratio were conducted using an existing computational aeroacoustics code.
From the solutions, sound pressure levels and frequency spectra were then obtained. The results were compared to
sound pressure levels collected from a live-fire test of the weapon. Lastly, an outline of work that is to continue and be
completed in the near future will be presented.
The Air Force's 45th Space Wing is in charge of operating the Range Safety System (RSS) for all launches that take
place on the Eastern Range. If initiated, the RSS currently implemented on the Space Transportation System after
launch would provide for the partial destruction of the solid rocket boosters (SRBs) to terminate thrust. The majority of
the risk from the large explosive debris created comes from the aft ends of the SRBs, which fall largely intact along with
the remaining propellant. Historically, no impact data on such a scenario has been available and in support of the Space
Shuttle Return-to-Flight schedule, aerodynamic and trajectory analyses were performed to characterize any pitch angle
biases associated with the aft end's descent after initiating the linear shaped charges (LSCs) on the SRBs. Results show
the aft end has a bias towards impacting at ±5, 70, or 175 degrees and takes an average of 10 seconds to stabilize into
any one of these orientations after being separated from the SRB forward body.
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