CFD ANALYSIS OF
COMBUSTION GAS GUN FOR
PROJECTILE ACCELERATION
SYSTEM
Presented By:
Mr. Saptanshu Ingale
Ms. Vrinda Patil
Mr. Vishal Bhoknal
Internal Mentor: Prof. Dinesh Kumar Bajaj (Assistance
Professor at MIT ADT University) & Prof Dr Devabrata
Sahoo (Associate Professor, MIT ADT University)
External Mentor: Mr. Sidharth Kamble (Thermofluid
Engineer, KOZMOZ Space) & Mr. Tribikram Chattaraj
(Co-Founder & CTO, KOZMOZ Space)
INTRODUCTION
➢ Gas gun combustion refers to the combustion process that occurs
in a gas gun. A gas gun is a device used to launch projectiles at
high velocities by utilizing the pressure generated by the rapid
combustion of gases.
Figure 1- Combustion gas gun schematics(Ning Liu)
➢Constant volume combustion refers to a combustion
process that occurs under conditions of constant volume,
meaning the volume of the combustion chamber remains
constant throughout the combustion process
Figure 2- Otto Cycle(Science Direct)
LITERATURE REVIEW:
Performance of a 40mm combustion-heated light gas gun launcher(M.E lord Vkf-1985)
• The max velocity of the projectile is 14000 ft/sec which is a 40-gram cylindrical slug and obtained at a maximum chamber pressure of 60,000
psi.
• The major finding of the paper was that the pressure loss due to heat transfer was very less, and the sonic speed was showing some limitations
on projectile velocity. the main loss was associated with the diaphragm.
Modeling of Combustion and Propulsion Processes of a New Concept using a Gaseous Propellant (Ning Liu, Fei Deng-2015)
• The paper studied the effect of variations of parameters such as propellant component ratio and filling error accuracy on the combustion
process.
• An increase in the amount of hydrogen enhanced the initial pressure and muzzle velocity but significantly reduced the temperature.
• The filling error of the propellants affected the performance but the effect was relatively small.
Numerical Analysis of Hydrogen-Oxygen Combustion in Combustion Light Gas Gun with Detailed Kinetic Mechanisms (Deng
Fei, Liu Ning-2014)
• It is a kinetic mechanism study of the interior ballistic of a gas gun.
• It suggests that the effect of the kinetic mechanism on the maximum cause of chamber pressure, temperature, and projectile velocity can be
ignored and the results obtained would be still accurate
A Comparative And Experimental Study on Performances Of Natural Gas-Air Combustion, Helium And Air As Propellants in
a Gas Gun (SH. Zarei, GH. Majzoobi & H. Ahmadikia-2009)
• This paper compared the combustion process of a gas gun with different fuels like hydrogen- helium, and natural gas(mainly
containing methane).The paper studies the effect of factors like concentration, use of a mixer, and ignition energy provided to study the
combustion of natural gas.
• It provides various advantages of using natural gas over helium-hydrogen, and other gases like natural gas is economical, easy to handle,
safe, and environmentally friendly. It also outperforms hydrogen-helium at higher pressure.
Premixed Combustion of Diluted Hydrogen-Air Mixtures in a Constant Volume Bomb(Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xian
Ning West Road 28, Xi’an -2009 )
•
The study analyzed combustion characteristics of diluted hydrogen-air premixed combustion in a constant volume bomb over wide ranges of
diluent ratios and equivalence ratios using two kinds of diluent gases N2 & CO2.
• The main results of a study on the effect of diluent gas on hydrogen-air mixture combustion.
Numerical Simulations of the Influence of Inert Gases (N2/CO2) on Combustion Characteristics of Laminar-Premixed
Biosyngas Flame(Huilai Sun, Ruichuan Li,* Mingming Huang, Zhi Li, and Jikang Xu-2007)
• The Paper showed that CO2 had a stronger inhibitory effect on the laminar flame speed compared to N2, mainly due to the chemical effect and
heat capacity of CO2.
• The addition of inert gases elongated the reaction interval, reducing the laminar flame speed of the fuel mixture.
Natural
Gas-Hydrogen-Air
Premixed
Mixture
Bomb(Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xian Ning-2007)
Combustion
with
a
Constant
Volume
• This paper showed that a increasing the hydrogen fraction in the mixture resulted in an increase in the normalized mass burning rate, while the
flame development duration and the total combustion duration decreased at various equivalence ratios and initial pressures.
• The study aslo found that the ratio of flame development duration to total combustion duration increased with an increase in hydrogen
fraction, indicating that hydrogen addition is more effective in decreasing total combustion duration than in reducing flame development duration.
NUMERIC AL METHODOLOGY
COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY
Methane Combustion
GEOMETRY
MESHING
COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY
Methane Combustion
SET UP
General
Species Model
Viscous
Solver
Pressure- Based
Model
K-epsilon
Model
Species Transport
Velocity
Formulation
Absolute
K-epsilon Model
Standard
Reactions
Volumetric
Near- Wall
Treatment
Standard Wall
Function
Options
Diffusion Energy
Source
Time
Steady
2D Space
Axisymmetric
Mixture Material
Methane-air
Energy Equation
ON
TurbulenceChemistry
interaction
Eddy-Dissipation
COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY
Ultron
GEOMETRY
MESHING
COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY
Ultron
SET UP
General
Viscous
Species Model
Solver
Pressure based
Model
K-epsilon
Model
Species Transport
Velocity Formulation
Absolute
RNG
Reactions
Volumetric
Time
Transient
Kepsilon Model
2D Space
Axisymmetric
NearWall Treatment
Standard
Wall Function
Chemistry Solver
Relaxed to Chemical
Equilibrium
Energy Equation
ON
Mixture Material
Methane-air
TurbulenceChemistry interaction
Eddy-Dissipation
RESULTS
Comparing the Contours of Methane Combustion
Contours
Static Temperature
Specific Heat
Ansys Fluent Documentation
Obtained Results
Comparing the Contours of Methane Combustion
Contours
Velocity Magnitude
Mass Fraction Of
C𝐻4
Mass Fraction of 𝑂2
Ansys Fluent Documentations
Obtained Results
Plots for Different Number of Moles for Ultron
Plots
Mass Average
Pressure
Mass Average
Temperature
Number of Moles = 4
Number of Moles = 8
Number of Moles = 12
Plots for Different Number of Moles for Ultron
Plots
Mass Average
of 𝑂2
Mass Average
of H2
Number of Moles = 4
Number of Moles = 8
Number of Moles = 12
CONCLUSION
•A comprehensive literature survey was carried out on the premixed mixtures and design
•For Combustion gas guns. It was concluded that chamber pressure can be used as a parameter that can be monitored
and which directly influences the muzzle velocity.
•Different mixtures like methane-oxygen, hydrogen-oxygen-helium, and hydrogen-oxygen-nitrogen were studied
further. A conclusion was drawn that the hydrogen-oxygen-helium mixture would be suitable for initial work.
•A validation study on 2D planar methane combustion was carried out which validated the software Ansys fluent and
the setup models that are used. The results obtained showed good agreement with the theoretical values.
•Work was also carried out on a 2D axisymmetric hydrogen-oxygen-helium model using the eddy dissipation model.
Its results show acceptable agreement with the theoretical results but post-processing is required.
REFERENCES
•M. E. Lord "Performance of a 40mm combustion-heated light gas gun launcher" Arnold Engineering Development Center, November
4th, 1985
•Stephen R. Turns "An Introduction to Combustion" McGraw-Hill, 2000
•Ning Liu, Fei Deng, Xiang-yan Zhang, Liu-yi Zhang "Numerical Analysis Of Hydrogen-Oxygen Combustion In Combustion Light Gas
Gun With Detailed Kinetic Mechanism" IEEE Workshop On Electronics, Computer And Applications, 2014
•SH. Zarei, GH. Majzoobi & H. Ahmadikia "A Comparative And Experimental Study on Performances Of Natural Gas-Air Combustion,
Helium And Air As Propellants in a Gas Gun" Combustion Science and Technology, June 14th, 2020
•Huilai Sun, Ruichuan Li,* Mingming Huang, Zhi Li, and Jikang Xu "Numerical Simulations of the Influence of Inert Gases (N2/CO2)
on Combustion Characteristics of Laminar-Premixed Biosyngas Flame" ACS Publication 2021
•Haiyan Miao,* Qian Huang, Erjiang Hu, Zuohua Huang, and Deming Jiang "Premixed Combustion of Diluted Hydrogen-Air Mixtures
in aConstant Volume Bomb" American Chemical Society, 2008
•Zuohua Huang, Yong Zhang, Ke Zeng, Bing Liu, Qian Wang, and Deming Jiang " Natural Gas-Hydrogen-Air Premixed Mixture
Combustion with a Constant Volume Bomb" American Chemical Society ,2006
•Chenglong Tang, Zuohua Huang*, Chun Jin, Jiajia He, Jinhua Wang,Xibin Wang, Haiyan Miao "Explosion characteristics of hydrogen–
nitrogen–air mixturesat elevated pressures and temperatures" Elsevier, 2008
•Ning Liu, Fei Deng, Fei Zhou, Xiangyan Zhang "Modelling Of Combustion And Propulsion Processes Of A New Concept Gun Using A
Gaseous Propellent" Journal Of Theoretical And Applied Mechanics, 2015
•D. Kruczynski, D. Massey, R. Milligan, E. Vigil, B. Landers, M. Meneguzzi "Combustion Light Gas Gun Technology Demonstration"
UTRON, 2006