Analysis of criteria for assessing safety distance for focused warhead fragments based on CDEM

Abstract

This study uses the continuum-based discrete element method (CDEM) to build a new model for warhead safety distance, simulating the fragment fields over space and time for tungsten alloy and steel fragment focused warheads to derive respective safety distances for personnel. Regarding the effects of different warhead attitudes and fragment effectiveness definitions, it is found that, for single-shot focused warheads, the fragmentation risk is significantly higher for horizontal placement than for vertical placement; the fragment safety distance inneed increases nonlinearly as the threshold energy decreases. Meanwhile, the safety distance is less affected by the threshold energy for high-density-casing charges than for low density.