Tool for Calculating the Center of Mass and Moment of Inertia of Small Arms Weapons; Final rept. Aug-Dec 2007

摘要

The center of mass (COM) of a body or segment is the point about which the mass of the body or segment is evenly distributed. Moment of inertia (MOI) is the measure of a segment or object's resistance to changes in angular velocity. Mass properties, such as COM, MOI, and mass, allow for characterization of objects and for an easy comparison of the effects of force and torque on the dynamics of the object. This report describes and demonstrates the use of a software tool designed to calculate the effect of weight added to a weapon on the weapon's mass properties (COM, MOI, and total mass). The weapon COM tool was developed in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Research and Technology Organization (RTO) Systems Concepts and Integration (SCI)-178 RTO Task Group (RTG)-043 task group on dismounted Soldier system weapon systems inter-operability. The NATO SCI-178 RTG-043 task group has identified assault rifle weapon weight and COM as a primary research area.