Attenuation of Muzzle Blast Using Configurable Mufflers

The noise attenuation obtained by using gun silencers configured with different baffle arrangements was investigated. The muffler sizes varied from one to nine bore-and chamber volumes. Both the number and the spacing of the internal baffles were changed to study the attenuation response. The near-field and far-field overpressures were measured at different polar angles about the boreline and attenuation values were obtained. Gages installed through the silencer bodies were used to obtain interior pressures. A model was introduced that uses a simple assumption together with an established blast field prediction technique to give estimates of lower bound attenuation values. It was found that for medium size mufflers and larger, the measured noise attenuation is much greater than predicted by the operational peak baffle pressures for optimum design of baffle structures in the inlet chamber. In addition, a new silencer design for use with saboted projectiles is presented. Keywords Gun mufflers Gun blast Gun barrel attachments Silencers Noise reduction Acoustic attenuation.