The aim of the research is to examine the effects warhead fragmentation has on the survivability of a military vehicle. As I wanted to use monte carlo techniques to estimate probabilities I needed fast computing algorithms.
The first step was to investigate analytical equations that describe how fragments are created in a warhead. For this there are three main equations linking the number of fragments created by a warhead, the initial velocity of fragments created by a warhead and the initial angle of projection of fragments. Since the second world war when the initial equations were developed there have been many improvements. Unfortunately some of these improvements require extensive computing power which was not required in the thesis. Consequently the algorithms had to be adapted and improved to make the computational speed of the algorithms fast as well as accurate. This would allow engineers and weapons designers to quickly adapt their designs.
When the warhead fragments can be accurately simulated monte carlo techniques will be utilised to investigate how the fragments affect the internal components of a vehicle. In particular the research will consider what is an “optimum” shape to reduce survivability and where are the most and least dangerous areas within the vehicle.