Visvesvaraya Technological University

Jnana Sangama, Belagavi, Karnataka-590 014

A seminar synopsis Report On

“TECHNICAL ADVANCEMNET IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM”

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
In

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted By:

STUDENTS NAME USN

ANAND S BAGEWADI 3GU14ME007

Under the Guidance of Seminar Co-ordinator

DR. K R DINESH PROF. LAKSHMIKANTH.A.S

Department of Mechanical Engineering

GOVERNMENT ENGINEERING COLLEGE RAICHUR-584134
(Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, Recognised By AICTE, NewDelhi &
Approved by Govt. of Karnataka)
2017-2018
 TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM

INTRODUCTION
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the backward movement of a
gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil momentum acquired by the gun exactly
balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gases (ejecta), according to
Newton's third law, known as conservation of momentum. In hand-held small arms, the recoil
momentum is transferred to the ground through the body of the shooter; while in heavier guns
such as mounted machine guns or cannons, recoil momentum is transferred to the ground
through the mount.

In order to bring the rearward moving gun to a halt, the momentum acquired by the gun is
dissipated by a forward acting counter-recoil force applied to the gun over a period of time after
the projectile exits the muzzle. To apply this counter-recoiling force, modern mounted guns may
employ recoil buffering comprising springs and hydraulic recoil mechanisms, similar to shock
absorbing suspension on automobiles. Early cannons used systems of ropes along with rolling or
sliding friction to provide forces to slow the recoiling cannon to a stop. Recoil buffering allows
the maximum counter-recoil force to be lowered so that strength limitations of the gun mount are
not exceeded. Gun chamber pressures and projectile acceleration forces are tremendous, on the
order of tens of thousands of pounds per square inch and tens of thousands of times the
acceleration of gravity (g's), both necessary to launch the projectile at useful velocity during the
very short travel distance of the barrel. However, the same pressures acting on the base of the
projectile are acting on the rear face of the gun chamber, accelerating the gun rearward during
firing. Practical weight gun mounts are typically not strong enough to withstand the maximum
forces accelerating the projectile during the short time the projectile is in the barrel, typically
only a few milliseconds. To mitigate these large recoil forces, recoil buffering mechanisms
spread out the counter-recoiling force over a longer time, typically ten to a hundred times longer
than the duration of the forces accelerating the projectile. This results in the required counter-
recoiling force being proportionally lower, and easily absorbed by the gun mount. Modern
cannons also employ muzzle brakes very effectively to redirect some of the propellant gasses
rearward after projectile exit. This provides a counter-recoiling force to the barrel, allowing the
buffering system and gun mount to be more efficiently designed at even lower weight.
"Recoilless" guns, (recoilless rifle), also exist where much of the high pressure gas remaining in
the barrel after projectile exit is vented rearward though a nozzle at the back of the chamber,
creating a large counter-recoiling force sufficient to eliminate the need for heavy recoil
mitigating buffers on the mount.

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 TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM

The same physics affecting recoil in mounted guns and cannons applies to hand-held
guns. However, the shooter's body assumes the role of gun mount, and must similarly dissipate
the gun's recoiling momentum over a longer period of time than the bullet travel-time in the
barrel, in order not to injure the shooter. Hands, arms and shoulders have considerable strength
and elasticity for this purpose, up to certain practical limits. Nevertheless, "perceived" recoil
limits vary from shooter to shooter, depending on body size, the use of recoil padding, individual
pain tolerance, the weight of the firearm, and whether recoil buffering systems and muzzle
brakes are employed. For this reason, establishing recoil safety standards for small arms remains
challenging,in spite of the straight-forward physics involved.

FIG 1.0 SECTIONAL VIEW OF PISTOL

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 TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM

CONCEPT AND PRINCIPLE OF RECOIL MECHANISM

MOMENTUM

A change in momentum of a mass requires a force; according to Newton's first law,

known as the law of inertia, inertia simply being another term for mass. That force, applied to a
mass, creates an acceleration, which when applied over time, changes the velocity of a mass.
According to Newton's second law, the law of momentum changing the velocity of the mass
changes its momentum, (mass multiplied by velocity). It is important to understand at this point
that velocity is not simply speed. Velocity is the speed of a mass in a particular direction. In a
very technical sense, speed is a scalar (mathematics), a magnitude, and velocity is a vector
(physics), magnitude and direction. Newton's third law, known as conservation of momentum,
recognizes that changes in the motion of a mass, brought about by the application of forces and
accelerations, does not occur in isolation; that is, other bodies of mass are found to be involved
in directing those forces and accelerations. Furthermore, if all the masses and velocities involved
are accounted for, the vector sum, magnitude and direction, of the momentum of all the bodies
involved does not change; hence, momentum of the system is conserved. This conservation of
momentum is why gun recoil occurs in the opposite direction of bullet projection -- the mass
times velocity of the projectile in the positive direction equals the mass times velocity of the gun
in the negative direction. In summation, the total momentum of the system equals zero,
surprisingly just as it did before the trigger was pulled.

FIG 2.0

There are two conservation laws at work when a gun is fired: conservation of momentum and
conservation of energy. Recoil is explained by the law of conservation of momentum, and so it is
easier to discuss it separately from energy.

The nature of the recoil process is determined by the force of the expanding gases in the barrel
upon the gun (recoil force), which is equal and opposite to the force upon the ejecta.

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ANGULAR MOMENTUM

For a gun firing under free-recoil conditions, the force on the gun may not only force the
gun backwards, but may also cause it to rotate about its center of mass or recoil mount.The
momentum of the ejected gases will not contribute very much to this result, since the ejected
gases have relatively low mass compared to the bullet, and only that portion of gas exiting
closely behind the bullet has significantly high velocity to contribute to recoil momentum.
However, one should understand that total recoil momentum is slightly more than the simple
product of the mass and velocity of the exiting projectile, for this reason.

ENERGY

A consideration of the energy released during the firing of a gun leads to an additional
equation useful in recoil analysis. Using Newton's second law, force equals mass times
acceleration, the energy within a moving body due to its velocity change caused by that
acceleration can be stated mathematically from the translational kinetic energy as:

This equation is known as the "classic statement" and yields a measurement of energy in
joules (or foot-pound force in non-SI units). Et is the amount of work (physics), force acting
through a distance, that can be done by the recoiling firearm, firearm system, or projectile
because of its momentum, and is also called the translational kinetic energy.

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 TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM

HYDRAULIC RECOIL MECHANISM

A hydraulic recoil mechanism is a way of limiting the effects of recoil and adding to the
accuracy and firepower of an artillery piece.

FIG 3.0 DIAGRAM OF HYDRAULIC RECOIL

The usual recoil system in modern quick-firing guns is the hydro-pneumatic recoil
system. In this system, the barrel is mounted on rails on which it can recoil to the rear, and the
recoil is taken up by a cylinder which is similar in operation to an automotive gas-charged shock
absorber, and is commonly visible as a cylinder mounted parallel to the barrel of the gun, but
shorter and smaller than it. The cylinder contains a charge of compressed air, as well as hydraulic
oil; in operation, the barrel's energy is taken up in compressing the air as the barrel recoils
backward, then is dissipated via hydraulic damping as the barrel returns forward to the firing
position. The recoil impulse is thus spread out over the time in which the barrel is compressing
the air, rather than over the much narrower interval of time when the projectile is being fired.
This greatly reduces the peak force conveyed to the mount (or to the ground on which the gun
has been emplaced).

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RAILGUN (FUTURE)
A railgun is a device that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles, by
means of a sliding armature that is accelerated along a pair of conductive rails. It is typically
constructed as a weapon and the projectile normally does not contain explosives, relying on the
projectile's high speed to inflict damage. The railgun uses a pair of parallel conductors, or rails,
along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that
flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail. It is based on principles
similar to those of the homopolar motor.

Railguns are being researched as weapons that would use neither explosives nor propellant, but
rather rely on electromagnetic forces to impart a very high kinetic energy to a projectile (e.g.
APFSDS). While explosive-powered military guns cannot readily achieve a muzzle velocity of
more than about 2 km/s, railguns can readily exceed 3 km/s, and perhaps exceed conventionally
delivered munitions in range and destructive force. The absence of explosive propellants or
warheads to store and handle, as well as the low cost of projectiles compared to conventional
weaponry come as additional advantages.

A railgun consists of two parallel metal rails (hence the name) connected to an electrical power
supply. When a conductive projectile is inserted between the rails (at the end connected to the
power supply), it completes the circuit. Electrons flow from the negative terminal of the power
supply up the negative rail, across the projectile, and down the positive rail, back to the power
supply.

FIG 4.0 MECHANISM OF RAILGUN

This current makes the railgun behave as an electromagnet, creating a magnetic field inside the
loop formed by the length of the rails up to the position of the armature. In accordance with the
right-hand rule, the magnetic field circulates around each conductor. Since the current is in the
opposite direction along each rail, the net magnetic field between the rails (B) is directed at right
angles to the plane formed by the central axes of the rails and the armature.

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 TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM

In combination with the current (I) in the armature, this produces a Lorentz force which
accelerates the projectile along the rails, always out of the loop and away from the power
supply.
There are also Lorentz forces acting on the rails and attempting to push them apart, but
since the rails are mounted firmly, they cannot move.By definition, if a current of one ampere
flows in a pair of ideal infinitely long parallel conductors that are separated by a distance of one
meter, then the magnitude of the force on each meter of those conductors will be exactly 0.2
micro-newtons. Furthermore, in general, the force will be proportional to the square of the
magnitude of the current and inversely proportional to the distance between the conductors. It
also follows that, for railguns with projectile masses of a few kg and barrel lengths of a few m,
very large currents will be required to accelerate projectiles to velocities of the order of 1000
m/s.

FIG.5.
A very large power supply, providing on the order of one million amperes of current, will
create a tremendous force on the projectile, accelerating it to a speed of many kilometres per
second (km/s). Although these speeds are possible, the heat generated from the propulsion of the
object is enough to erode the rails rapidly. Under high-use conditions, current railguns would
require frequent replacement of the rails, or to use a heat-resistant material that would be
conductive enough to produce the same effect. At this time it is generally acknowledged that it
will take major breakthroughs in materials science and related disciplines to produce high-
powered railguns capable of firing more than a few shots from a single set of rails.

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 TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT IN GUN RECOIL MECHANISM

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF RAILGUN

Advantages:

 Re-Usability. For obvious reasons, you can't use a missile after you've fired it. With
proper maintenance, though, a rail gun can be used indefinitely.
 Ease of Ammunition. Since the rail gun does not need fuel or any sort of explosive
charge to propel the projectile, you may as well cut up a hunk of metal into an
aerodynamic shape and load it in. I'm pretty sure that as long as the material is
magnetic, you can launch it with a rail gun.
 Mobility. I think we've only made one rail gun so far, and it's on a ship. On that ship, it
is currently capable of going all around the world and targeting any port city as well as
any city that's not too far inland. A missile, obviously, cannot do that.

Disadvantages:

 They’re heavy. The electromagnets used are very heavy in order to produce the energy
to propel the projectile.
 Power systems. The USN ship-mounted rail gun uses a 25 megawatt power system to
fire the gun. Smaller systems are being developed for land deployment via standard
military transport vehicles.
 The power systems will generate their own “signature” noise that can be identified and
targeted from drones or other airborne recon assets.
 Weapons heat may seriously degrade performance. Magnets are less efficient as they
get hot and rapid firing in combat conditions could decrease performance. It may be
countered with careful application of a non-flammable liquid gas (i.e. nitrogen).

APPLICATIONS:

1. Military applications:

 Tanks.
 Artillery.
 Gun.
 Battleships.

2. Space applications:
 Destroying Asteroids and Meteorites.

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CONCLUSION
The recoil mechanism of the Gun has been the same from several years. After the
evolution of new technology i.e., Railgun, the speed and accuracy of Guns and Artillery can be
improved. It has many advantages like distance the projectile can travel and impact it can
develop on enemy ground.

The present technology can be used in modern warfare and space applications for destroying
unknown objects approaching space.
Hence the advancement in gun recoil mechanism has made the new evolution in warfare and
space tours.

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