Modeling of Mine Countermeasure Dart Dispense

Mine countermeasure systems are currently under development to defeat beach and surf zone mines by dispensing small darts from a larger primary projectile body (Hydra-7, MODS, and CMCO). These programs currently lack modeling and simulation techniques that incorporate all of the complexities of the aerodynamics of the dart dispense. OVERFLOW software will be used to perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, using overset structured grids (created with OVERGRID), of representative delivery vehicles dispensing numerous (up to 381) mine countermeasure darts. These darts, approximately 5 to 6 inches in length, are designed to disable mines in the beach and surf zones after being dispensed in a uniform pattern over a given area. OVERFLOW will solve the equations of motion for each moving dart body and thus provide a time-accurate prediction of the dispense event. The results of 8 OVERFLOW dart dispense simulations of Venom Penetrator darts, each with a different Mach number, spin rate, and number of darts, will be presented and discussed.