Design of Lightweight Composite Barrel for Water Jet Disruptor Unit in Bomb Disposal Robot

Abstract

This study deals with a lightweight composite disruptor barrel used in a bomb disposal robot for a disposal operations of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Powered by a blank .50 BMG cartridge to produce a highspeed water jet to disengage the circuit of IED, the lightweight disruptor barrel consists of an aluminum liner for water and temperature resistance and a carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite (CFRP) as a shell for main load carrying. The composite shell is fabricated by a filament winding technique to ensure a good quality of CFRP. Due to difference in water jet and regular gun firing, the internal pressure of disruptor barrel needs to be estimated by using strain gauges and high-speed data acquisition device. Then, the design phase using finite element method (FEM) simulations with smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) technique and material damage criteria are performed in order to optimize the thickness of composite shell and liner geometries. Finally, a lightweight composite disruptor barrel is fabricated and tested as a