REVIEWPAPER(Abstract)

CalculatingballisticcoefficientofabulletusingMethodof
Characteristics(MoC)

Submittedby:
RizwanMalik

ABSTRACT
Theexternalballisticsproblemhasbeenstudiedforseveraldecadesinanefforttoimproveflight
rangeoroptimizeprojectileshenceimprovingthestabilityandaimoftheprojectilesforagiven
missionscenario.Thispaperconsidersthespecificproblemofunpoweredsupersonicflightofa
simpleaxisymmetricshapesuchasabullet.Theobjectiveistoestimatethevelocityand
pressurefieldcharacteristicsneartheprojectile.Theresultantforcescanthenbedeterminedby
integratingthepressurefield.
Theproblemissimplifiedtoinviscidsteadystateconditions.Thesolutionisprovidedbyafinite
volumenumericalmethodthatsolvestheNavierStokesequationsinasimplifiedformi.e.
Eulersequations.
Themainfocusofthepaperistoemploymethodofcharacteristics(MoC)toanalyzethe
aerodynamicsoftheexternalballisticsinsupersonicflightandcalculatetheirdragcoefficients.
Themostcommonindicatorofthebulletcomparison,theBallisticCoefficient(BC)canthenbe
determinedusingthecalculateddragandthencomparedwiththeactualexperimentaldataofthe
similarbullets.Ballisticcoefficientgivesacomparisonbetweentheaerodynamicsofthe
designedbulletandastandardbulletmodelcalledG1.
P.S:Ifpossible,ananalyticalsolutiontothesecondorderpartialdifferentialequation,commonly
knownasNavierStokesequations(includingthecompressibilityeffects),wouldbecarriedout
assumingtheinviscidflowassumptiontocomparetheresultsobtainedfromboththemethods.