Hot Gun Barrel Detector for Navy Guns

The Navy has a critical need to measure temperatures at critical areas on the inner bore surfaces of large guns in order to insure appropriate action is taken in case of a misfire. In the case of a misfire, the gun crew must know the bore surface temperature in order to decide if they have time to safely remove the ammunition before enough heat has transferred from the hot barrel, possibly initiating a cook-off of the projectile or propelling charge. In the Phase I program, we verified that ultrasonic methods could be used to measure bore surface temperature and bore erosion in under laboratory test conditions. The method is non-intrusive and requires no modification to the gun barrel. When combined with thermal models, the new ultrasonic sensor technology can be used to improve "cook-off" prediction and gun safety. In this Phase II program we develop and test a robust, reliable, ultrasonic system capable of measuring inner bore temperature and erosion. The system performance will be evaluated in a series of controlled laboratory tests and field experiments using sensors mounted on 5" Navy guns.