AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THE CORRELATION OF INSENSITIVE MUNITIONS TESTS TO CARD GAP VALUES

CARD GAP TESTS ARE THE HAZARD STANDARDS BY WHICH ENERGETIC MATERIALS ARE CLASSIFIED. THE USE OF INSENSITIVE MUNITIONS REQUIRES PERFORMANCE RESPONSE INFORMATION TO SENSITIVITY TESTS SUCH AS BULLET/ FRAGMENT IMPACT AND SHOCK IMPACT. NO CORRELATION METHODS EXIST BETWEEN CARD GAP TESTS AND SENSITIVITY TESTS, RESULTING IN THE NEED TO CONDUCT EXTENSIVE EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT RESPONSE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION CURVES CAN BE ESTABLISHEDFOR INSENSITIVE MUNITIONS AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS TYPE AND STIMULUS MAGNITUDE. BASED ON A CORRELATABLE ENERGY CRITERION BETWEEN STIMULUS - RESPONSE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION CURVES. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUCH CORRELATION RELATIONSHIPS CAN BE AIDED THROUGH THE USE OF ANALYTICAL SIMILARITY METHODS. RESPONSE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION CURVES WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOR ONE INSENSITIVE MUNITION WITH TWO PARAMETERS FOR CARD GAP AND BULLET IMPACT TESTS. THE FEASIBILITY OF CORRELATING RESPONSE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION CURVES WILL BE DEMONSTRATED BASED ON AN INVESTIGATION INTO ANALYTICAL SIMILARITY METHODS, A NUMERICAL MODELING METHODOLOGY TO ASSIST IN CORRELATION WILL BE FORMULATED. TPL AND THE CENTER FOR EXPLOSIVE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH HAVE THE NEEDED EXPERIENCE AND CAPABILITIES TO SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCT THE PROPOSED PROGRAM.