CFD Analysis of a rifle silencer (without bullet) ∇ OpenFOAM®

The following video shows a #CFD investigation of a rifle silencer. The geometry of the rifle and the silencer were taken from the popular cad library platform named grab.com.


Silencer created by Jay McMullan: https://grabcad.com/library/rifle-sup...
Rifle created by Walid Bachir: https://grabcad.com/library/sniper-ri...


The silencer was re-build using Salome and the mesh was generated by using #snappyHexMesh, an #OpenFOAM integrated mesher. The post-processing was done by using the common and famous open-source software named #ParaView.


The explosion was modelled by adding a source and energy term. However, the source was just a guess in order to achieve realistic peak pressure. Nevertheless, the physics are different if a bullet will be included. Hence, the analysis is related to a blank cartridge - even though, the source term should be different.

The video shows - even without a too fine mesh - the reduction of pressure due to the silencer which also leads to a speed reduction. Hence, the silencer absorbs energy which limit the noise of the weapon. However, I am not able to give any valuable statement if the geometry of the silencer is a realistic one or just an arbitrary model created by Jay McMullan.

The case was constructed mainly to investigate into compressible flows and the numerics/stability behind. This is not a scientific investigation at all.


Keep foaming,
Tobi