Abstract: The major technique of improving the damage effect of kinetic energy (KE) rod warheads is to improve the impact velocity and control the flight attitude of rod. A new concept of KE rod warhead named variable cross-section rod warhead is proposed, and the basic theory of variable cross-section rod warhead design is described. The driving process of rods deployed by detonation of the explosive is numerically simulated by ANSYS/LS-DYNA. And the deployed velocity and the change rule of flight attitude are obtained from the numerical simulation results. Considering the influence of the aerodynamics on flight attitude of variable cross-section rod after detonation, the aeroelastic deformation of deformed variable cross-section rod is simulated by CFD/CSM .The numerical simulation results indicate that the aeroelastic deformation of variable cross-section rod is so small that it has little influence on its flight attitude. Based on the theoretical research, a static rod deployment test was performed, and the test results reached the expected effect. The research results show that the variable cross-section rod warhead design is reasonable. Moreover, the results also provide the reliable theoretical basis for engineering design.

Key words: ordnance science and technology, variable cross-section rod, detonation projection, flight attitude, aeroelastic deformation