Interior Ballistic Simulation of Underwater Steel Cable Towed Launch Torpedo

In view of the limitations of the existing torpedo scheme launched by unmanned undersea vehicles(UUVs), namely the low tube-exit speed of the torpedo, inability to ensure the smooth exit of the torpedo after start-up failure, and large instantaneous thrust on the torpedo, a basic structural scheme is proposed for the underwater steel cable towed launch torpedo. The proposed scheme is simple and compatible with the self-launching scheme. Based on the launch scheme, the internal ballistic model of the underwater steel cable towed launch torpedo was established, including the gas state model of the launching air bottle, mathematical models of the launch valve, air-water cylinder, and towing device, and torpedo motion model. A launch process simulation was performed. In addition, the factors influencing the internal ballistic path of the torpedo launch, such as the initial filling pressure of the launch air bottle, UUV speed, and elastic modulus of the steel cable, were analyzed. The simulation results demonstrate that the scheme meets the requirements of the UUV launch torpedo, is feasible in principle, and possesses a structure that can solve the problem of emergency torpedo launch when the torpedo fails to exit the tube owing to the failure of self-launching, thereby reducing the structural strength requirement of the torpedo tail to a certain extent.