Elevations for Maximum Ranges of Projectiles

Abstract

Ballistic performance of Artillery projectiles are generally characterized by maximum range and dispersion. Launch angle at which maximum range is achieved by a projectile for a given combination of weapon and charge has been a long intriguing aspect for Ballisticians. Although in ideal conditions, vacuum, trajectory case maximum range of a projectile is achieved at an elevation of 450, below which the range decreases monotonically with decreasing elevation and beyond which the range reduces with increasing elevation. But in actual scenario, presence of air, which offers drag to projectile motion largely affects this value. A review of theoretical considerations and computational verification of the same with various projectiles have been carried out to establish the relationship between various factors that characterize and determine maximum ranges. This plays a vital role for computational purposes like Fire Prediction and Firing Tables compilation. Termination conditions of most of these Ballistic algorithms essentially built around these data. For the sake of brevity and want of completeness a few projectiles were only studied. Projectile classes considered have been varying in their sizes from 0.303cal Bullets to 305mm Artillery shells, masses from few grams to few 100s of Kgs, with L/D ratios from 3 to 25 and fineness varying from blunt noses to highly Ogival shells. Detailed trajectory computations based on Point mass trajectory model has been attempted to answer and to offer plausible explanations for the not so obvious problem.