Supercavitating Underwater Bullets - AMAZING!!!

[Dolomite_supafly]

These bullets are going through 13 water jugs, a steel plate then another jug.

http://50.63.176.19/...uper-cavitation

The underwater bullet. Fact or Myth? Up until recently, this was a solid ‘Myth’ but developments in Weapons Science have turned it into a technology that will change the face of maritime warfare forever. It all starts with something called supercavitation.

Supercavitation is the use of cavitation effects to create a bubble of gas inside a liquid large enough to encompass an object traveling through the liquid, which greatly reduces friction drag on the object and enables the achievement of very high speeds.

This in turn causes enhanced effects on target such as massive hydro-static shock to a target object and the direct effects of the cavity in water also means highly effective terminal ballistics to near objects.

This round can be fired from air-to-water, water-to-water, and water-to-air allowing radical changes to existing tactics. Consider a few of the more obvious applications that this technology now makes possible:

Anti-Torpedo Solutions, Surface Swarming Threats, Submerged Threats, Maritime Snipers, Weaponized UUVs, Submarine Offense/Defense, Mine Counter Measures, Swimmer Defense, Harbor Protection

Based on the projectile type, our rounds enable low angle water entry and swim from 2 degrees to 12 degrees out to 60m.

They Increase effective hits on armor by over 15 degrees from conventional munitions and when used in air the projectile can travel up to 25% further than conventional munitions.

For anyone working in or near a maritime environment, super cavitation opens an incredibly diverse operational environment that has heretofore been closed.

Dolomite

[Clod Stomper]

Interesting. I wonder if it works sort of like a torpedo. I think I remember reading somewhere that they expel an air bubble out of the nose so that they aren't pushing through water. Kind of like keeping a layer of air over the nose as it cuts through the water.

Just something I read a long time ago. I hope someone else will explain better.

[Lumber_Jack]

This is neat. It works fine in jugs of motionless water but I wonder what the bullet would do in turbulent water. We talk about how much wind affects bullet flight, how much more would water affect its trajectory?

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Isn't cavitation when there is a disruption in the flow through a propeller or other device causing air bubbles,

making noise? That's what I understood a sonar picked up over most anything else in a dense field. My be talking

out of my ass. Been awhile.

i don't know about this "super cavitation". sounds like hype from the same thing.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, though.

Edited September 28, 2012 by 6.8 AR

[Major Kong]

I'd have liked to have seen that shot through a super slo-mo cam. I'm simple that way.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae

Cavitation is interesting stuff. Supposedly cavitation on propellers and other parts of ships can rapidly wear out the metal, and I think it is the principle behind some high-pressure water knives that can cut metal like butter.

Maybe a cavitating projectile could be arranged to cause as much damage from the cavitation as from the impact?

The snapping shrimp create a cavitating bubble potent enough to kill small fish they prey on. It has sonoluminescence, temporary temperatures about the same as the surface of the sun. Some acoustical cavitation experiments create quasi-stable high-temp glowing plasma bubbles in fluid. In theory pretty easy to do, just a small sphere of fluid, paste some piezo transducers on the the glass sphere, and drive the crap out of it from an audio power amp with "just the right" audio frequency. Possibly a method to eventually do controlled fusion.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I'd have liked to have seen that shot through a super slo-mo cam. I'm simple that way.

Me, too

[mikegideon]

I'm ready for a whole new style of noodlin'. I may be interested in that sport if I could shoot them in the face.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

That boolit might have a redneck's pinky finger embedded in it so the catfish has something to grab on to.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I love innovation like the next guy, but how is this going to be beneficial in a maritime environment? Getting a little farther

with an expensive projectile like that seems to me to be overkill when some kind of change in a tactical attitude would

produce more benefit? I'm just trying to justify usage of a very expensive projectile in such a limited environment.

I'm confident what Lester said about cavitation justifies its further experimentation. Aah, thinking too much. I ain't smart

enough for that crowd.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I could see it being used to shoot a hull below the water line. Or engaging scuba divers. Being able to shoot 60M under water is pretty impressive.

The Russians have had a rifle that shoots dart like projectiles for a long time. The rifle even cycles.

Dolomite

[Guest Lester Weevils]

All the movie heros who escape by swimming under water with automatic weapon bullets dissipating harmlessly all around them, will be screwed. That's got to be a bigger trope than a cocked revolver in the face.

[peejman]

Isn't cavitation when there is a disruption in the flow through a propeller or other device causing air bubbles,

making noise? That's what I understood a sonar picked up over most anything else in a dense field. My be talking

out of my ass. Been awhile.

i don't know about this "super cavitation". sounds like hype from the same thing.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, though.

Cavitation is simply boiling water.

The motion of the prop creates some very high and very low pressure areas. When the pressure in the low pressure areas drops below the vapor pressure, a bubble forms. When the bubble moves to a higher pressure area, it collapses. The pressure wave caused by the collapse is what does the damage. It's similar to a clap of thunder.

You can do it with your hand in a swimming pool. Stick your arm in the water at least to the elbow and shake/rub to remove any bubbles that may be stuck on your hand. Hold your hand flat, fingers together and push your hand through the water as fast as you can. You'll see bubbles form. In essence, that's cavitation.

[Will Carry]

All I can say is "Watch out Billy Bass!"

[1gewehr]

For small arms bullets, this is not a very useful feature. For larger calibers, I can see utility against shallow-depth submarines or infiltrating swimmers.

Where this is big is in the use of anti-ship missiles. Imagine a 600mph underwater self-guided rocket fired from 100 miles away as a weapon against unfriendly ships. Very little warning, and no time to maneuver in defense.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Now, it's starting to make sense. Thanks peejman and 1gewehr. Larger applications do make more sense and it

would be frightening to the target when it hit. Never thought about it like that. Pretty cool!

I understand the pressures and wing concept , but never took it underwater. Makes sense.

Edited September 28, 2012 by 6.8 AR

[peejman]

For small arms bullets, this is not a very useful feature. For larger calibers, I can see utility against shallow-depth submarines or infiltrating swimmers.

Where this is big is in the use of anti-ship missiles. Imagine a 600mph underwater self-guided rocket fired from 100 miles away as a weapon against unfriendly ships. Very little warning, and no time to maneuver in defense.

Right, think rocket torpedoes. A sub launched missile is ejected in a similar fashion. It goes through the water surrounded by a pocket of air.

[McAllyn]

I was thinking the opposite way, but in a non-military application. Scuba divers having a ACTUAL defense against sharks, et. al. Not cheap, but from what I remember, nothing about that activity comes with a reasonable price tag.

But I do completely agree about the military usage, definitely makes more sense with large scale applications.

For the science minded, isn't the heat created by cavitation the basis for sonic cleaners? Seems like when I was reading up on using a sonic brass cleaner, someone stated that the relative temperature of the solution can reach near 1200 degrees. I may be completely confusing that though...

Mac

ETA: Let me Google that for me... Looks like Hornady research found that it can get up to roughly 8000 degrees.

Edited September 28, 2012 by McAllyn

[peejman]

I was thinking the opposite way, but in a non-military application. Scuba divers having a ACTUAL defense against sharks, et. al. Not cheap, but from what I remember, nothing about that activity comes with a reasonable price tag.

But I do completely agree about the military usage, definitely makes more sense with large scale applications.

For the science minded, isn't the heat created by cavitation the basis for sonic cleaners? Seems like when I was reading up on using a sonic brass cleaner, someone stated that the relative temperature of the solution can reach near 1200 degrees. I may be completely confusing that though...

Mac

ETA: Let me Google that for me... Looks like Hornady research found that it can get up to roughly 8000 degrees.

Its the pressure wave that's doing the work. The heat is a byproduct of the near instant change in pressure. The energy from the sudden, large pressure reduction is dissipated as heat. On a microscopic scale, yes the temp gets quite high. But the duration of the high temp is so short and given the mass of the fluid, there's very little bulk heating.