Effect of friction on motion of a piston driven by combustion products

Abstract

In recent years the two-stage light gas ballistic apparatus with deformable plastic pistons has become widely used in experimental aerodynamics. The existing methods of calculating such devices either completely neglect friction of the piston on the channel wall [1–3] or use a schematization of the frictional forces [4–6], which does not have a satisfactory physical basis. In a number of studies [7, 8] the friction force was considered constant, and its value was specified not from physical considerations, but to produce the best agreement between calculated and experimental values of object velocity or driving gas pressure. Since friction is such a significant factor, its proper consideration in calculating piston motion parameters requires special study. In this connection, it is useful to consider the operation of only the first stage of the ballistic apparatus, which sets the piston in motion. Below we will consider the problem of the internal ballistics of a one-stage powder-driven apparatus in the column channel of which a piston made of polymer material moves, experiencing friction. The friction model is constructed on the basis of a series of experiments on the slow forcing of polymer specimens compressed in the longitudinal direction through a steel channel. An experimental study was made of the relationship between the gunpowder gas pressure and time within a constant volume chamber, allowing establishment of the true powder-burning law, and its deviation from the geometric law of [9]. Calculated and experimental values of maximum gas pressure and muzzle velocity of a polyethylene piston are compared.