Explosives Ordnance Engineering Apprenticeship

• Dr Jeff Pons

The aim of Introductory Studies is to prepare students for their subsequent programme of study on the assessed modules. The module is designed to enable students to revise, consolidate and expand their skill and knowledge base so that they can derive maximum benefit from their course of study. It is an optional module and carries a formal credit rating of zero, although a student’s understanding of the materials covered may be tested as part of the assessment for subsequent course modules.

• Chemistry,
• IT, Computing Services and Library Briefing,
• Materials and Materials Engineering,
• Mathematics,
• Physics,
• Stress Analysis,
• Study Skills.

• Demonstrate sufficient command of fundamental principles to be able to study successfully for subsequent modules.

Select appropriate tools to undertake research in EOE. To provide the tools to successfully undertake M-Level studies in EOE.

This module will cover:

• Scientific search techniques,
• Critical evaluation;
• Written and oral communication skills;
• Experimental design for EOE related projects, including basic project planning skills resource management and statistical analysis and data display;
• Health, safety and project ethics;
• A selection of computer modelling programmes in EOE, e.g. blast, detonation, terminal ballistics and risk;
• Positive and negative aspects of using computer codes versus laboratory experiments.

On successful completion of the module you will be able to:

• Critique scientific research by collating relevant information from a range of sources to address specific questions relating to EOE,
• Critically evaluate EOE challenges with computer modelling tools by considering the advantages and disadvantages of their applicability,
• Justify when to use computer modelling tools, experimental work or both to solve a problem or carry out research in EOE,
• Select appropriate techniques and academic skills required to complete M-level study.

• Dr Lisa Humphreys

To provide a through life perspective of explosives ordnance engineering.

This module will cover:

• Introduction to achieving desired target effects,
• Initiation mechanism and the differences between deflagration and detonation,
• Introduction to primary and secondary explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics and their application in military environments,
• Relevance of safety, legislation, and environmental requirements,
• Introduction to properties of explosions,
• Workshops that focus on explosive ordnance engineering to support learning.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Apply the systems approach to engineering within which ordnance, munitions and explosives (OME) are designed, developed, managed, used, and disposed of,
• Review energetic materials and their through life applications in OME, within a military context,
• Evaluate the design and function of military OME systems from trigger sequence to terminal effect(s),
• Recognise and apply through life compliance requirements for military OME systems.

• Dr Aimee Helliker

The aim of the module is to provide you with the skills and knowledge to analyse targets and defeat mechanisms.

 This module covers:

• Introduction to warheads and ammunition Introduction to armour design,
• Wound ballistics and human vulnerability,
• Fragmentation theory and warheads,
• Small arms and cannon ammunition,
• Shell and projectile design,
• Target penetration and shock events covering subsonic to hydrodynamic regimes,
• Shaped charge and Explosively Formed Projectile warhead design,
• Kinetic Energy ammunition and penetrator design,
• Mine threat and damage mechanisms,
• Complex armour, spacing, obliquity, disposition and failure mechanisms,
• Blast effects, blast-structure interactions including internal detonations,
• Terminal ballistics demonstrations.

 

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Appraise the characteristics of the target and mechanisms for defeat,
• Establish the critical factors in munition design,
• Evaluate the performance of munitions for target defeat,
• Assess the design principles and critically review the efficiency of protective systems.

• Dr Aimee Helliker

To enable an understanding of the ways in which a lethality mechanism (warhead) may be delivered to a selected target.

• Light and heavy guns, cannons and mortars and small arms; charge systems, external ballistics and relevant design features,
• Torpedoes; underwater ballistics, underwater propulsion, guidance and control,
• Detection: IR and optical sensing, radar systems,
• Guided weapon design: Propulsion, aerodynamics, control, guidance.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Establish the operational features and principles of a wide variety of ammunition, launch and carriage methods, underpinned by a detailed knowledge of the sub-systems and design methodologies,
• Assess the external ballistics and flight dynamics associated with the various classes of munitions,
• Review and conduct calculations related to the performance (i.e. range and velocity) of munition systems using informed aerodynamic, propulsion and mass data,
• Evaluate the relevance and performance of sensor and guidance technologies.

• Professor Tracey Temple

To provide a capstone module for the EOE MSc, by integrating the learning from the taught phase with a critical evaluation of new trends and technologies in EOE.

• Part-time students should only undertake this module when they have completed 50% of the taught phase unless agreed with the EOE Course Director,
• The group work consists of a mix of part-time and full-time students. It will be necessary for the groups to communicate regularly between each other and meet with the group supervisor at least 3 times during the year,
• The launch of the module is one full day (see separate timetable for dates),
• The assessments require one day in January for a poster session and two days in March/April for Oral vivas,
• There will be additional tutorials throughput the academic year and all students should attend in their groups unless agreed with the Course Director,
• Present scientific ideas in a clear and concise manner,
• Evaluate the value of funding / non-funding of research,
• Work effectively in teams and manage own time.

 

Current ‘Hot Topics in EOE’, including, for example:

• Nanotechnology,
• Insensitive munitions,
• Analysis and detection,
• Environmental initiatives.

 

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Define the user requirements for a military capability.
• Critically evaluate the key drivers and technologies that have historically influenced military capability,
• Create an assessment rubric for peer review. Apply the rubric and justify feedback and mark scheme,
• Convincingly debate future science and engineering solutions and evaluate them against changing requirements of EOE.

• Dr Lisa Humphreys

To apply appropriate safety assurance for activities through life involving  ordnance, munitions and explosives (OME).

• Key safety legislation and regulations,
• Threats and failure modes of munitions,
• Safety assessments,
• Complexity of safety protocols.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Describe the evolution and importance of regulations and legal context for explosive safety,
• Evaluate the body of evidence required to demonstrate a system is safe,
• Discuss the key safety factors during the in-service phases of the CADMID cycle for a munition system and its components,
• Produce safety advice for introducing a munition into service.

To provide you with a critical understanding and practical experience of testing methods, regimes and requirements for explosives and explosive articles.

This module will cover:

• Introduction to current safety testing regimes with examples of the required tests,
• Discussions on the complexity of legislation applied to the testing protocol within the UK,
• Practical demonstration of testing methods and analyse of the data obtained.

On successful completion of the module you will be able to:

• Identify key contents of UK MoD standards and associated test documentation relevant to the approval of explosives, and articles containing explosives,
• Critique the main test methods to classify explosives performance (detonation velocity, pressure, critical diameter) and other properties of energetic materials,
• Critically review the importance, relevance and limitations of different instrumentation techniques, and their selection and applicability to experimental research and test data gathering,
• Interpret, draw and critically review conclusions from given experimental data.

• Professor Tracey Temple

To develop an understanding of the principles of rocket propulsion and of rocket propellant composition and performance.

Rocket Propulsion:

• Principles of reaction propulsion,
• Fundamental principles of applied thermodynamics and gas dynamics,
• Mach number, flow function, flow area relationship,
• Convergent-divergent nozzles,
• Definitions of propulsion performance criteria,
• Internal ballistics of solid propellant rocket motors,
• Charge design for particular applications,
• Rocket motor components,
• Thrust vector control methods,
• Velocity and range equations for accelerating and cruising projectiles.

 

Chemistry:

• Principles of rocket propellant composition,
• Properties and applications of cast and extruded double base propellants,
• Properties and applications of rubbery composite propellants,
• Properties and applications of liquid monopropellants and bipropellants,
• New developments in propellant composition and formulation.

On successful completion of the module you will be able to:

• Apply the principles of thermodynamics and gas dynamics to rocket propulsion, demonstrating that a solid rocket motor is a self-regulating device,
• Critically evaluate the principle of charge design applied to examples in the defence and commercial sectors,
• Evaluate the design of a propellant formulation against the key user requirements of safety, performance and combustion signature,
• Analyse the latest developments and drivers in the manufacture and design of future rocket propellant formulations.

Extreme but credible accidents and enemy action (EA)2 can cause munitions to react violently, with potentially severe consequences for people, equipment and infrastructure. Using a common scientific framework and set of evidence, Insensitive Munitions (IM) Policy drives the design of safer munitions; Hazard Classification (HC) controls their storage and transport; and Explosive Risk assessment builds on these to manage residual risks.

The aim of the Design for Vulnerability module is to explore the policies and processes used to manage the consequences of such EA2 events throughout the munition lifecycle; the science underpinning the response of energetic materials and weapons systems to these EA2 events; design principles to minimise the responses; and tools and techniques to manage these responses.

Taking the IM and HC criteria as a starting point, this module describes the reaction mechanisms that can lead to violent reactions and associated experimental and modelling techniques; and develops the qualities needed for safe design through explosive and propellant formulation; warhead, rocket motor packaging design; together with threat hazard assessment to develop a risk-based approach to accidents or actionEA2, through an holistic approach to munitions safety balancing a sense of the possible against need.

• Policy & Rationale for IM, HC & ERA,
• EA2 threats and examples,
• Theory & experimental methods for Shock initiation, cook-off and deflagration to detonation transition,
• Advances in formulation and processing for EA2 - understand the pertinent issues facing the formulator when optimising for performance and safety,
• EA2 design principles for warheads, rocket motors and pyrotechnic devices – energetic materials structural design, mitigation features,
• Consideration of munitions safety as a through life and systems approach, including threat hazard analysis, consequence modelling, and a warfighter perspective of operational imperatives balanced against safety.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Summarise the policy, strategy and operational context of EA2,
• Evaluate the relationships between IM, HC & ERA and the scientific principles and mechanisms controlling the response of munitions to EA2,
• Critique the state of the art and future direction of design solutions for EA2,
• Select tools and techniques available to evaluate, manage and mitigate the consequences of EA2.

To provide a comprehensive overview of the behaviour of explosives in the environment and their pollutant linkages.

• The use of explosives in the environment,
• The effects on the environment,
• Environmental risk assessment of explosives,
• Contaminated air, land and water,
• Soil systems and sampling techniques,
• Environmental issues through life of explosives.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Explain the chemical and physical behaviour of explosives in the environment,
• Defend decisions made on environmental grounds that can be balanced with operational capabilities and cost effectiveness over the whole life cycle of a product/project (CADMID),
• Evaluate potential pollutant linkages between explosive sources and environmental receptors,
• Select appropriate mitigation, remediation and management solutions for explosives contamination.

• Professor Tracey Temple

This structured programme is typically delivered through collaboration with an industrial sponsor. The module will enable you to demonstrate their ability to generate a contribution to a work-based problem and a new or revised service offering suitable solutions and to apply learned knowledge, skills and behaviours within their own workplace.  In most cases, the results of the research programme should be set in the context of related work. Successful completion of this module will enable you to achieve both an MSc in Explosives Ordnance and Engineering and the apprenticeship in Ordnance Munitions and Explosives.

Assessment method 1 and method 2:

• The individual project report is typically defined based on industrial and work-based challenges. The supervisor engages weekly through various means including emails, phone calls, online meetings (e.g. MS Teams). Students are responsible for planning and executing the project and the supervisor(s) role focuses on the guidance provided. The marking will be undertaken by an independent assessor for the individual project report. There will also be an oral presentation with the independent assessor. The duration of the Presentation and Q&A is 60-minutes (30minutes presentation, 30 minutes Q&A).

 
On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• Plan and execute a work-based project with reference to professional project management processes (e.g. time management; risk management; contingency planning; resource allocation; health and safety, ethics),
• Evaluate and critically analyse literature; analyse data, synthesise a discussion, generate conclusions,
• Self-critically evaluate experimental/analytical results with conclusions that place the research in the context of the professional practice of EOE,
• Communicate findings through written reports, oral presentations and discussion.