Next Generation Static Warhead Testing (NG-SWaT)

ABSTRACT: Leveraging our extensive experience collecting and analyzing missile intercept data, Torch proposes designing/integrating an innovative instrumentation system along with automated data processing and data fusion algorithms to better characterize debris damage effects from static detonating weapon tests. Data from multiple high-speed cameras with customized optics will be correlated and fused to derive fragment three-dimensional state (position, velocity, angular momentum) and size information. A high-speed multi-band radiometer will collect data on fireball combustion dynamics that will be combined with pressure/impulse measurements to better characterize advanced weapon blast wave phenomenology. A heat flux model, not currently included in standard damage models, will be derived from the radiometer measurements. A plan to integrate these data products into the Joint Munitions Effectiveness Manual Joint Weaponeering System tools was also developed. Our Phase I work plan will focus on instrument design and the implementation of our automated data processing, correlation, and fusion algorithms. This numerical simulation architecture will address the feasibility of the measurement concepts, highlight the advantages of the proposed methodology, and provide a valuable pre-mission planning tool for live-fire data collections. Our proposed hardware/software approach will address critical debris data collection capability gaps in a timely and cost effective manner. BENEFIT: The proposed system will expand the amount of data being collected from current static warhead ground testing. It will also significantly decrease the amount of time and labor required to reduce this data into a format that can be used in effectiveness models. All existing Government and contractor operated warhead test facilities would benefit from this improved instrumentation. Potential commercial applications include any impact test facility such as those for automobile windshields.