Exterior Ballistics: History, Theory and Implementation

Critical parts of a projectile and how projectiles are characterized.

Basic description of what goes into understanding the atmosphere, and why it is important.

Quick look at the aerodynamic drag formula and what the various terms mean.

Discussion of the drag coefficient and it's relation to projectile speed.

Definition of the ballistic coefficient and related quantities, with discussion.

Discussion of some practical ways to measure drag and what to attend to in order to do it well.

Presentation of the point mass equations of motion for solving a simple exterior ballistics problem.

Qualitative discussion of assumptions and ideas going into the point mass solution to the exterior ballistics problem.

Overview of the basics of numerical integration as used in the point mass equation solution.

Overview of the basics of numerical optimization as used in determining the bore axis to sight axis angle.

Brief consideration of how numerical optimization applies to the geometry of a projectile.

Code walk through of the point mass equation solution to the exterior ballistics problem.

Walk-through of the Runga-Kutta class and more detailed information about the implementation and use.

Discussion of what goes into 6DOF solves, and some of the pros and cons.

Discussion about how corrective factors are layered on the point mass solver to improve accuracy.

Brief walkthrough of some of the important aspects of Pejsa's work and why it is interesting.

An overview of what we covered in the course.  Congratulations!