Monte Carlo Simulation and Experimental Studies on Terminal Effects of Pre-Fragmentation Munition

Fragmentation warheads are considered critical components of missiles and other air-delivered weapon systems used against ground and aerial targets. The study of the terminal effects of a fragmentation warhead is an essential requirement during the design stage, layout configuration during the experiments, and development of protective system configuration against it. A Monte Carlo simulation-based computational model, named the Munitions Lethality Analysis (MULAS), has been developed to assess the terminal effects of the Pre-Fragmentation (PF) warhead in terms of its lethality and blast. A parametric study was conducted on cylindrical PF warheads with steel balls as a kill mechanism using the MULAS simulation method. The effect of the size of fragment steel balls on both fragment spatial distribution and warhead lethality, and the impact of the initiation point on warhead lethality, have been studied. Experiments with cylindrical model PF warheads were performed to validate the MULAS methodology. The test data analysis revealed that the performance prediction for fragment lethality and blast using the MULAS methodology was in fair agreement with the experimental data within a 10 % variation.