Remington Model 700 FEA/ Catia Optics

College of Engineering
This is a final project for a course given at the University of Idaho in the 3D modeling system known as CATIA. Our goal was to model a Remington Model 700 rifle, caliber .243 and then run a basic Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) on the barrel when it is under high pressure loads from a cartridge being discharged. We also delved into CATIAs ability to model optics for the scope. CATIA has the ability to calculate the way light would bend through glass and we wanted to see just how good it could perform.

University of Idaho Nate Petersen & Tyler Marines Catia, Section 2, Fall 2013 Final Project 12/13/2013

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ME 421 Advanced CAD Final Project

Group: Remington 700 Modeling/FEA of Barrel/Scope Optics Members: Nathan Petersen and Tyler Marines

Vision:
Our vision for this project was to hone our modeling techniques, understand CATIAs FEA capabilities and understand CATIAs optical potential. We chose a Remington model 700 .243 caliber to model because it offered us chances to study each of these areas. In the complex modeling area it offered us the shape of its stock and trigger assembly. These parts had many curves and radii that would have been difficult to model unless we had the tools that CATIA offered. It opened up FEA potential in the form of a pressure analysis of the barrel under the conditions of firing. This would help us learn why the barrel is shaped the way that it is and possibly show areas to be strengthened. Lastly the scope of this gun offered us the opportunity to study CATIAs ability to bend light through glass to produce de-magnifying and zooming results.

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Application:
Complex Shape Design Our first area of study was the complex shape design. We had the luxury of having an actual Remington 700 to look at, take apart, and analyze. We started the modeling process by taking pictures of the parts we needed and then obtaining overall/detailed dimensions.

We started the modeling by generating the basic shape and utilizing multi-selection solid tool. This basic shape was molded to line up with the dimensions that are shown above. Then the details, including the hand grip and the internal cut outs, were put into the stock so that we could proceed to final assembly. One of the hardest parts of modeling the stock was getting CATIA to create a multi-selection solid from one profile to a different one. We had to play around with moving closing points and aligning them properly. You can see below the modeling of the stock and many other parts of the final assembly.

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After each part was created to the specifications of our measurements and/or drawings found online it was assembled into the final gun. The assembly process revealed to us some changes that needed to be made to the scope mounts and barrel. Once those were made the model was as close to real as could be achieved. To make sure that the rifle was built to a reasonable size we fitted it onto a manikin as can be seen below. The final gun turned out great.

FEA of Barrel under Firing Pressure The next phase of our project was to understand the stresses that the barrel was undergoing at its point of maximum pressure exposure. To do this our barrel model was moved into the Analysis Workbench and a pressure load was placed on the inside of the barrel. The pressure data was obtain from rifle and round data available from most ammo manufactures/ reloading manuals. Our results revealed why the rifle barrel was designed the way it was. As you can see in the figures below the max stress is near the rear of the barrel where the diameter is the largest.

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Flat lens= No magnification

Convex lens= + Magnification

Concave lens= - Magnification

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Lessons Learned:
During this project we learned many things about CATIA and its capabilities. We came to understand that CATIA is a program that is great for making complex shapes and holds a great potential to make shapes that are very organic. This rifle stock came out phenomenally, proven by fitting it on a manikin in CATIAs ergonomics workbench, and if we had to use SolidWorks it would have made things much harder, due to its limitations. We ran into some interesting problems with closing points when using the Multi-Selection Solid tool and had to dive into moving these closing points around in order to get a shape that did not result in a cusp. We learned more about CATIAs ability to do stress analysis and found it interesting to see the rationale behind the design of the barrel. We were confused at the placement of the maximum stress because the color gradient looks like that is where the stress should be the least but we learned how to do crosssection stress visualization and that revealed that CATIA was indeed correct. Lastly we learned a lot about how CATIA can bend light through glass lens. This opened up a lot of cool opportunities for further study in this area. We would love to see a future CATIA project on this subject to really understand the limitations. During our lens testing if we would add more than three lenses, then CATIA would not be able to process the object on the other side of those three lenses. This was on the medium quality setting so maybe on the high quality setting it could do it but we ran into problems of the computers not being able to handle the renders in the time frame that we were looking for.

For Fun/ To make sure it really works well: