Generalization of the muzzle wave similarity rules

Abstract.

The present paper describes an improvement of the muzzle wave similarity that permits treatment to unsteady and non sonic gun muzzle conditions. The revised formulation of the similarity is capable of characterizing the muzzle wave propagation even for significant variation of the muzzle conditions during the life time of the wave. Suitable scaling parameters are selected and tested yielding appropriate similarity rules at a significantly reduced number of tests whose applicability is confirmed by experimental data and comparison to an analytical theory.