Development of Techniques to Reduce Jerk for High Impact Munition Fuzes

This proposal addresses the development of techniques to reduce the jerk experienced by electronic components mounted in high impact munitions fuzes. The general approach that will be adopted in the proposed program attacks the shock protection issue at two levels. At the warhead housing level, device concepts will be explored that dissipate energy by plastically deforming in a controlled way. This strategy will lead to lower acceleration levels throughout the system and hence reduce jerk across the board. A limitation of this method is that excessive flexibility in the housing may compromise its penetration capability. The possibility of mounting the fuze from an energy dissipation structure with a parallel load path to the main housing will be considered because of this concern. The second level of protection will be provided at the electronic component level. Careful tuning of the mounts used to support the sensitive components will help avoid damaging dynamic amplification due to ringing after impact. Insight into this issue will be generated by calculating shock response spectra in the housing level impact analyses. These analyses will be undertaken using an explicit nonlinear dynamic analysis code after preliminary analyses have been undertaken with more time-efficient tools.