LAUSR

Abstract The investigation of the fragmentation properties along the axis of a metal shell under explosive loading is valuable for understanding the fragment formation principles of a warhead. To investigate the axial fragmentation distribution of a metal shell, herein the fragmentation from different axial positions of a metal shell under single-end detonation conditions was analyzed based on the microelement method. Moreover, a corresponding simplified model for the average fragment mass was established. The fragment distribution characteristics at different axial positions and the internal features from the metal shell fragmentation was analyzed by designing an experiment for fragment segmented recovery and fragment perforation occurring in the fragmentation of a 1045 metal steel cylinder shell filled internally with 8701 high explosives. The similarity between the fragment perforation contour and the projected contour of fragments was applied to verify the accuracy of the simplified model of the fragmentation along the axial direction, which can provide an important reference for the design of warheads and the performance of protective architecture.