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Design operation and test of a light gas gun in a developing country

1989; American Institute of Physics; Volume: 60; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1063/1.1140567

1527-2400

Miguel de Icaza, C. Renero, Fernando Prieto,

Geophysics and Sensor Technology

A detailed description is given of the light gas gun designed, machined, and operated at the National University of Mexico. Emphasis is made on the difficulties to be faced in a developing country to construct this kind of experimental facility, as well as on the solutions given. In particular, the barrel is made of 15 interlocking sections, each one as long as could be machined and honed in the available lathes in our country. These sections are conically tapered inside to allow the projectile to move from one section to the next without being shaved or deformed. The double diaphragm type breech has a working pressure of 40 MPa, the length of the barrel is 12.7 m and its bore is 75 mm. We indicate how to maximize the bursting cross section of the diaphragms, because this increases the projectile velocity. The projectile mass may be chosen between 0.5 and 2 kg, and the maximum projectile velocity may be as high as 1200 m/s. The gas gun performances are presented and, as a final remark, we comment on what we would change if we were to construct another gun.