Performance Evaluation of the Power Cartridge in the Closed Vessel for Water-Jet Application

Abstract

The power cartridges are generally called as gas generator devices utilized in disruptor system to generate a high velocity water jet. This high velocity water-jet helps in the damage of suspected improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The closed vessel (CV) methodology for performance evaluation in respect of the power cartridge is explained in this research paper. To determine the performance, the CV is fabricated. The gas pressure generated by the power cartridge is measured using the pressure sensor fitted to the CV body. It is one of the methodologies to measure the internal pressure inside the CV. The scope of this study is to generate the maximum pressure and time for maximum pressure by burning a single base (SB) propellant and double base (DB) propellants at the different temperatures. An experimental study involves a burning of known mass of the propellant in the CV at hot, cold and ambient temperatures. SB propellant and DB propellants with 3g mass and 0.5 g pyrotechnic composition each are used in the CV firings. Experimental results show that the maximum pressure (Pmax) in hot is more than that of cold and ambient temperature, whereas time for maximum pressure is less in hot than that of cold and ambient temperature for both SB and DB propellants. This paper presents an experimental findings carried out for the performance assessment of various parameters using data acquisition system (DAS). The statistical data are evaluated for the cartridge at hot, cold and ambient temperatures. The percentage error between experiment and theoretical pressure is 2.41% for SB propellant and DB propellants 17.35%.