Modeling and dynamic analysis of artillery barrel-cradle structure with clearance

Clearance is unavoidable in artillery barrel-cradle mechanism due to the need for relative motion, and has been considered as a key factor to affect the artillery firing accuracy. Therefore, in this paper, the dynamic behaviors of artillery barrel-cradle structure are studied. The barrel-cradle structure is simplified as a variable cross-section barrel structure with two clearances, and nonlinear spring-damping model is used to describe the clearance contact force. And then, based on solving the dynamic response of such model, the clearance effects on muzzle vibration, contact force and dynamic characteristics (frequency response function and “hardening” effect) are also analyzed in detail. Furthermore, this paper also presents an improved identification algorithm which is combining the probability density derivative method and nonlinear detection to identify the clearance value. These studies can provide better understanding of clearance effects and contribute significantly to improving firing accuracy by adjusting the clearance.