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Experimental analysis and wear modeling for mechanical components of a

typical rail launcher

Article  in  Wear · August 2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.wear.2013.06.008

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 Wear 306 (2013) 1–9

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

Experimental analysis and wear modeling for mechanical components

of a typical rail launcher
Metin Akkök a, Bülent Acar b, Emre Açmaz b,n
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Üniversiteler Mah. Dumlupınar Blv.No:1 06800 Çankaya Ankara, Turkey
b
Roketsan Missiles Industry, Ankara-Samsun Karayolu 40. Km 06780 Elmadağ, Ankara, Turkey

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: One of the most important design considerations for rocket launchers is its maintainability and one of
Received 22 October 2012 the most important parameter which affects the maintainability is wear in launchers. Therefore, for
Received in revised form predicting the life-time of a launcher, wear should be investigated beside other parameters such as
6 June 2013
fatigue etc. In this study, experimental and modeling of dry sliding wear in some mechanical parts of a
Accepted 11 June 2013
typical rail launcher, used in helicopters, were made. Firstly, measurements about the material loss,
Available online 26 June 2013
which is generated during firing of missiles, were made on launcher components which have interfaces
Keywords: with missile. Then, these results were used to simulate the wear phenomenon by using a commercial
Sliding wear finite element program, ANSYS. By the help of finite element model, crack initiation period depending on
Contact mechanics
wear is tried to be evaluated without making additional firing tests.
Finite element modeling
& 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Wear modeling

1. Introduction Fig. 2 is given in order to provide an approach to the pheno-

Crack initiation or failure depending on wear takes long time to
arise. In other words, these types of failures require longer time
than static failures. Therefore, longer experimental studies are
needed in order to see the effects of wear. The experimental study
made to evaluate wear performance in launcher components is
firing tests because the real environment can only be created
during firing tests. However, the main aim of firing tests is to see
the flight performance of missiles/rockets and they are very
expensive tests. Generating huge amount of firing tests only to
inspect wear performance of launcher is impractical.
During firing, rockets are trusted by a large amount of force
depending on their masses. Thrust force during launching is
required to increase the velocity of rockets to the desired launcher
exit velocity. Generally, the distance of rocket travel in launchers is
small because of ergonomic prerequisites. Therefore, rockets apply
large sliding forces to the launchers in a small interval of time.
Despite a rocket is fired for only one turn, rocket launchers are
used repeatedly. Thus, wear is not a problem for missiles but it has
a critical role in designing launchers.
It is known that only wear does not cause failure of the material.
Wear generates surface cracks on the materials and these cracks are
propagated under additional loading as seen in Fig. 1. Then, as a
result of crack growth, failure of the material occurs.
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 312 860 5500; fax: +90 312 863 4208.
E-mail addresses: eacmaz@roketsan.com.tr, emreacmaz@yahoo.com (E. Açmaz).
menon of fatigue crack development. It is seen that crack initiation
period corresponds approximately 20% of the total life to fracture.
The graph changes with respect to applied loading, environmental
conditions, material properties, etc. but it shows that crack initia-
tion covers an important portion of life-time of components.
The aim of this study is to simulate wear and compute the crack
initiation time of launcher components. For this purpose, numer-
ical wear models were supported by some experimental studies.
So that, without additional experiments the wear performance of
launcher components are simulated.
When the launcher was inspected, it was realized that two
components of the launcher are critical for wear examination. One
of them is rail, and the other is release latch. These two parts are
the only components which have interaction with missile. Missile
shoes slide on the rail of the launcher and dry sliding takes effect
between them. Release latch prevents missile movement up to a
certain thrust force in order to increase the launcher exit velocity
of the missile.
1.1. Bearing area curve (BAC) and wear calculation using BAC
It should be noted that the functional properties of a surface is
not only determined with its roughness. Structure of the profile is
also important. Bearing are curve (BAC) is a statistical tool which is
used to analyze structure of the surface profile. It shows the ratio
of air to material on the surface profile of any material at any level.
The curve starts with the highest peak of the surface and ends
with lowest valley. In 1933, EJ Abbott and FA Firestone had first

0043-1648/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2013.06.008
2 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9

Fig. 1. A schematic view of surface crack development during wear [1].

Fig. 2. A typical fatigue crack development graph for metals [2].

described the curve. BAC is also known as Material Ratio Curve or Fig. 4. BAC parameters and area under BAC curve [4].
Abbott Curve in literature.
Fig. 3 describes schematically how a BAC curve can be figured
out. Here, z is the distance perpendicular to the plane of the
surface, Δz is the interval between two heights, h is the mean line
of the surface, p(z) is the probability density function, P(z) is the
cumulative probability function.
A typical BAC has five parameters which are Rk, M r1 , M r2 , Rvk
and Rpk as given in Fig. 4. ISO 13565-2 also specifies these
parameters as [3]:

Rk (core roughness depth): depth of the roughness core profile,

M r1 (material portion): level, in percent, determined for the
intersection line which separates the protruding peaks from
the roughness core profile,
M r2 (material portion): level, in percent, determined for the
intersection line which separates the deep valleys from the
roughness core profile,
Rpk (reduced peak height): average height of the protruding
peaks above the roughness core profile,
Rvk (reduced valley depths): average height of the projecting
through the roughness core profile.
Fig. 5. Calculation of wear amount using BAC [4].
BAC gives a detailed description about the surface morphology.
Therefore, it is also used to calculate the depth of wear on
the mating parts. According to a study made on “cylinder liner
surfaces [4]”, wear can be calculated by the help of areas under
bearing areas curves as shown in Fig. 5. Difference between the
areas under BAC's of unused and used parts gives the depth of
worn material, in millimeters.

Fig. 3. Determination of bearing area curve of a rough surface [1].

 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9 3

Table 1
Surface profilometry measurements.

Parameters Unused Right side of Left side of Unused Used

rail used rail used rail release release
latch latch

Rk (lm) 4.84 3.34 3.76 4.972 0.784

Rvk (lm) 2.75 1.80 1.31 7.281 1.207
Rpk (lm) 2.55 1.21 1.48 6.227 0.963
M r1 (%) 9.572 9.045 10.185 11.62 8.98
M r2 (%) 88.626 86.834 91.302 82.98 84.28

Fig. 7. Flowchart of wear simulation.

Table 2
Mechanical properties of AISI-1040 and AISI-4140 [6].

Properties AISI-1040 AISI-4140

Density (g/cm3) 7.845 7.85

Hardness (Rockwell C) 13 30a
Ultimate tensile strength (MPa) 620 1020
Yield tensile strength (MPa) 415 655
Modulus of elasticity (GPa) 200 205
Shear Modulus (GPa) 80 80
Poisons ratio 0.29 0.29

a
Hardness was taken as 1000 MPa in wear calculations by Archard's wear law [5].

2. Simulation and experimental study

2.1. Experimental study

In order to measure the depth of wear on the launcher rail and

Fig. 6. Flowchart of evaluating wear coefficient.
In order to calculate the depth of wear, a new surface rough-
ness parameter is introduced which is called Rktot. Rktot is a
simplified integral of BAC curve and it can be defined as [4],





Rktot ¼ M r1 Rvk þ Rk þ Rpk =2 þ M r2 −M r1 Rvk þ Rk =2 þ 1−M r2 Rvk =2
Therefore, the depth of wear given in Fig. 5 can be expressed as,
depth of wear ¼ Rktotunusedarea −Rktotusedarea
release latch, a limited number of firing tests were made. Ten firing
tests were arranged. All firing tests were made by using same
launcher components.
At the beginning of firing tests, the contacting surface of
launcher rail and release latch was scanned with a surface profilo-
metry and bearing area curves (BAC) of the surfaces were calcu-
lated. After ten firing tests, the same surfaces of launcher rail and
release latch were scanned again. All results are showed on Table 1.
BAC parameters in Table 1 were used to calculate the Rktot
values for five different BAC curves. Then, used and unused Rktot
ð1Þ values of the same parts were subtracted each other in order to
calculate the depth of wear on the launcher components as
explained in the previous section. It was calculated that wear on
release latch is more severe than wear on the launcher rail, so
ð2Þ simulation studies were focused on release latch.
4 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9

Fig. 8. CAD model of the shoe-latch contact interface.

Fig. 9. The contact length between the release latch and the missile shoe.

2.2. Simulation of contact), then,

There is no commercial FE program which is capable of
simulating wear directly. The only way to calculate the worn
material is to write macro. Commercial FE programs are used to
compute the contact reactions of materials. The outputs of FE
analysis are used as inputs for general wear models.
The most frequently used wear model in practical engineering
is linear Archard wear law [5], so it was used in order to compute
the depth of wear in this study. As specified in previous chapters,
according to Archard,
KðWLÞ
V¼ ð3Þ
H
where V, K, W, L and H are wear volume, dimensionless wear
coefficient, total normal load, sliding distance and hardness of the
target contacting material, respectively. In engineering applica-
tions, wear depth is generally more important than wear volume
of materials 22 [4], so if both sides of Eq. (1) is divided by “A” (area
V KðWLÞ
¼ ð4Þ
A ðHAÞ
KðpLÞ
h¼ ð5Þ
H
where h and p are wear depth and contact pressure, respectively.
In order to find the wear depth in Eq. (5), contact pressure,
sliding distance, hardness and wear coefficient should be known.
Hardness is a material property so it was taken from the literature
as showed on following section. Contact pressure and sliding
distance was computed from finite element program.
Wear coefficient (K) is the most important parameter in Arch-
ard's wear law because it provides a contract between experimental
study and simulation. Therefore, wear coefficient was evaluated by
the help of experimental results given in preceding section.
FE analysis was made in order to calculate the contact pressure
and sliding distance. Then, these results and measured wear depth
 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9 5

Fig. 10. FE model of the missile shoe-release latch interface.

Fig. 11. Meshed model of shoe-latch interface.

Fig. 12. Finite element types used on FE model.

6 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9

were used in Eq. (3) in order to calculate wear coefficient. At this

point, it should be noted that the calculated wear coefficient is for
10 firing tests. In other words, with the evaluated wear coefficient,
Archard's wear law will calculate the depth of wear for every 10
firings. It should be noted that in real case, wear coefficient
probably changes for every firing tests. However, it tends to
decrease by the help of work hardening on the latch surface with
the additional firings. In this study, wear coefficient was taken as
constant in order to be on the safe side while evaluating crack
initiation time.
Once the wear coefficient was determined, it is possible to
evaluate the depth of wear for every 10 firings with respect to
Archard's Law. As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, a flowchart of wear
simulation was constructed. By providing the requisite inputs to
the FE processor, the sliding distance and contact pressure
between materials were calculated. Then, by using these data in
Archard's wear law, wear depth was calculated for every 10 firings.
The average wear depth at the end of each simulation was
Fig. 13. Elastoplastic stress–strain curve in ANSYS [7].
compared with limit value in order to see whether total wear

Fig. 14. Nodal contact pressure distribution when the shoe moves 4.005 mm.

Fig. 15. Nodal sliding distance values at the time when the shoe moves 4.005 mm.
 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9 7

Fig. 16. Representation of the contacting nodes of the release latch.

3000 0.4
maximum contact pressure (MPa)

0.35
2500
total sliding distance (mm)

0.3
2000
0.25

1500 0.2

0.15
1000
0.1
500
0.05
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4
0

2
4
6
8
1

2
4
6
8
2

2
4
6
8
3

2
4
0.
0.
0.
0.

1.
1.
1.
1.

2.
2.
2.
2.

3.
3.
contact position (mm)
contact position (mm)
Fig. 17. The graph of maximum contact pressure along the contact curve after 10
firings. Fig. 18. The graph of total sliding distance along the contact curve after 10 firings.

depth exceeds the limit or not. If the answer was no, then by
0.018
updating the geometry of the FE model, all calculations were made
again. When the calculated depth of wear exceeded the limit 0.016
value, it was considered as the point where crack initiation in the 0.014
material begins.
depth of wear (mm)

0.012
Experiences in similar rocket launch applications showed that
the surface cracks arise on the contact surface of release latch 0.01
material after approximately 60–80 mm of wear depth. Thus, it 0.008
was taken as limit value in evaluating crack initiation time of
0.006
release latch.
0.004

0.002

0
2.2.1. Material properties
0

2
4
6
8
1

2
4
6
8
2

2
4
6
8
3

2
4
0.
0.
0.
0.

1.
1.
1.
1.

2.
2.
2.
2.

3.
3.

The shoe material is AISI-1040 steel and the release latch is

contact position (mm)
made from AISI-4140 carbon steel. The mechanical properties of
these materials were taken from literature and given in Table 2. Fig. 19. The graph of wear depth along the contact curve after 10 firings.
8 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9

Fig. 20. Representation of geometry update in FE model of release latch.

0.12

0.1
DEPTH OF WEAR (MM)

10 Firings
0.08
20 Firings
30 Firings
0.06 40 Firings
50 Firings
60 Firings
0.04 70 Firings

0.02

0
0
2
4
6
8
1
2
4
6
8
2
2
4
6
8
3
2
4
0.
0.
0.
0.

1.
1.
1.
1.

2.
2.
2.
2.

3.
3.

CONTACT POSITION (MM)

Fig. 21. Sequential depth of wear on contact curve after each analysis.

Moreover, the kinetic friction coefficient between steel materi-
als was taken as “0.6” in FE analysis [6].
2.2.2. Finite element model
As shown with experimental study, the release latch is worn
more than launcher rail. Therefore, the FE modeling studies were
focused on release latch. In Fig. 8, CAD model of release latch
mechanism is shown. Release latch is attached to the rail from its
rotating point. It is also constrained by linear spring at the back.
During firing of the missile, shoe moves on the rail and get
in touch with launcher latch. As missile shoe moves, release
latch compresses linear spring more, so contact forces between
shoe and latch increases up to a time when shoe loses contact. The
contact between shoe and latch is lost after shoe moves approxi-
mately 5 mm in the sliding direction shown in Fig. 8.
3D or 2D geometries can be used in FE modeling. However, in
most cases, defining a real case with 2D geometry can save
significant analysis time and machine resource. Therefore, while
working with models and environments that involve negligible
effects from a third dimension, using 2D geometry in FE models
are suggested. In order to express a 3D environment with a 2D FE
Fig. 22. The graph of comparison between simulated wear and real case in metals.
geometry, the environment should satisfy at least one of the
following characteristics: plane stress, axis-symmetry or plane
strain. For this case, the contact length shown on Fig. 9 is much
more larger than the Hertzian contact width between the release
latch and the missile shoe. Therefore, the interface between
components is modeled as a plane stress model.
Fig. 10 shows the schematic view of FE model of release latch
mechanism. FEA was focused on the contact surface so smaller
meshes were used in contact regions as shown in Fig. 11. The
element types used in FE model are showed on Fig. 12.
The stress–strain curves of materials were defined in FE
program for the purpose of evaluating plastic deformation on
the material, as given in Fig. 13. The bilinear kinematic hardening
material model was used to express plasticity of materials. In
elastic material approach, only the elastic modulus of materials
was defined in FE program. However, the tangent modulus of
materials was also added into FE program for plastic material
approach. The tangent modulus is generally taken as 1/10 or 1/20
of the elastic modulus for steels. In this study, it was taken as 1/20
of elasticity modulus.
 M. Akkök et al. / Wear 306 (2013) 1–9
2.2.3. Estimation of dimensionless wear coefficient
If Eq. (5) is written to calculate dimensionless wear coefficient,
then,
K ¼ ðHhÞ=ðpLÞ ð6Þ
In this equation, hardness is a material property; wear depth is
the result of wear measurements. The contact pressure and sliding
distance are the outputs of FE analysis. Figs. 14 and 15 shows nodal
contact pressure and nodal sliding distance values of contacting
nodes at the time when the missile shoe moves 4.005 mm,
respectively.
The contact pressure and sliding distance data were gathered
for all contact nodes seen in Fig. 16. The sliding distance and
contact pressure values are time-dependent because of the linear
spring used in the system. Therefore, all data in the overall analysis
time should be considered for this study. This was made by ANSYS
TimeHistory PostProcessor. The contact pressure and sliding dis-
tance values of contact nodes were collected for all time-steps.
Then, the peak values of contact pressure and total summation of
sliding distance were used in order to evaluate wear constant. The
peak contact pressure and total summation of sliding distance on
the contact curve are shown in Figs. 17 and 18, respectively. The
calculated wear depths on the contact curve are shown in Fig. 19.
After that, these nodal wear depths are averaged for calculating
overall wear depth of the surface. This value is compared with the
experimental result which is approximately 8 μm and wear con-
stant is changed until the average wear depth of the simulation is
equal to the experimental wear depth. The dimensionless wear
coefficient was obtained as approximately 0.02.
2.2.4. Sequential wear calculations
Once the wear coefficient is obtained, it is possible to evaluate
wear depths of nodes for every 10 firings. Before making the
second analysis for 20 firings, the geometry of the latch model was
updated by using the wear depth of each contact node. Updating
was made by moving the contact nodes in the direction of the
contact pressure. Therefore, contact nodes were always moved to
the center node of contact nodes as showed in Fig. 20.
A total of seven analyses were made and it was seen that there
is a total of 60 mm average wear depth in the release latch after
seventy firings. The sequential geometry changes in release latch
after each analysis is shown in Fig. 21.
3. Conclusions
In order to eliminate the demand for firing tests, a typical rail
launcher was inspected in terms of its wear performance and a
wear simulation procedure was established by using a commercial
FE program and Archard wear law.
View publication stats
9
 Wear measurements were made on the components which had
been used in 10 firing tests. The measurements showed that
the average surface wear depth of the launcher rail and the
release latch are approximately 1.3 mm and 8 mm, respectively.
 In order to simulate wear by using Archard wear law, dimen-
sionless wear coefficient must be known. Thus, wear coeffi-
cient was computed by using wear measurements on the
release latch and it was determined as 0.02. This high value
of wear coefficient shows that abrasive wear arises on the
release latch.
 Once, the wear coefficient was calculated, sequential wear
simulations were done. Linear increment was obtained in
sequential wear simulation results. At the end of 70 missile
firings, the contact surface of the release latch was worn
approximately 60 mm.
 When wear depths evaluated at the end of each analysis is
considered, it is realized that there is a linear growth in
the values. This is the result of using constant wear coefficient
which covers 10 firings of missiles in the analysis. The
wear coefficient between materials changes for repeated con-
tacts [8]. As mentioned in Fig. 22, the wear rate is initially high
to steady in metallic materials. By using constant wear coeffi-
cient, initially high wear rate is covered for the rest of the
contact. Thus, in the simulation for the same number of
contacts N, deeper wear values were calculated and safer
results were reached.
 This study shows that dry wear between metallic materials can
be modeled and be used to predict depth of wear on launcher
components up to surface crack initiation. Once the simulation
procedure is fixed, it would be a powerful tool for predicting
the life-time of the mechanical components due to wear.
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