Date of Award

5-5-2025

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The goal of Team 19’s project was to design a fast cook off system to be used as an alternative to current insensitive munitions testing practices. The fast cook off test is used to determine the responses of explosive devices or materials when subjected to rapid heating. NAVSEA is moving away from their previous testing method, which consisted of igniting a large pool of jet fuel to fully engulf the test subject in flame.

This method has several significant disadvantages. Burning jet fuel into the open atmosphere with such regularity inflicts needless harm to the environment when better alternatives are available. Another major drawback to the fuel pool is total lack of control after ignition. This means that the temperature and flame size cannot be adjusted to fit different situations, and that the fire cannot be extinguished until all the fuel has been burnt off.

Our design aimed to overcome these drawbacks. Several concepts were developed and compared over the last year, with the best aspects of each being taken and combined into our final design. We developed a clean burning propane-based burner with an almost negligible environmental impact, and with a high degree of operational control. The system is capable of reaching and maintaining the target temperature of 550 °C. The constant pressure present in the design is also able to prevent any freezing caused by the propane, an issue present in previous iterations of the project.

Overall, the burner which was constructed has proven to be an effective replacement for the old method of fast cookoff testing. If the sponsor chooses, this system could be upscaled into the full-sized hearth to be used in the field.

Comments

Team Name: Team 19

Company Sponsor: Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activity

Sponsor Representative: Joseph LiVolsi

Document Reference: URI-MCE-402-019-2025

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