APPLICATION OF VECTOR: MILITARY USAGE

INTRODUCTION
Tank are often depicting as a symbol of superiority in a country. Thus, there are many
countries buy and built a tank as an asset and put up a front as a strong country. Therefore, it
is important to ensure the effectiveness of their lethality of modern tank by their armour
piercing projectiles, such as that shown in Figure 1. Army laboratories continue to improve
performance of armour penetrators. At the foundation of the research are mathematical
models involving vector.

Figure 1. Tank round travelling in excess of 1500 meter per second, photo
Courtesy of Army Research Laboratories (ARL)
In this report, we will describe the use of vector calculus to model armour piercing tank
rounds. Along the way, we will show and review mathematical operations with vectors to
understanding the application and how it can be applied to build the armour piercing
projectiles. The application of vector being used started with the basic operation of vector
arithmetic, dot product, cross product, and gradient. Vector is specifically applied to the
modelling of sabot rounds.

THE MODEL
After the explosion to propels the sabot round out of the tube tank cannon, just in the
millisecond the round is subject to intense heat and pressure to increase the momentum and
its lethality. In order to achieve that heat and pressure, millions computations are performed
in the process in the simulation. The effects of heat and pressure on the blocks are simulated
using vectors.
 Figure 4. Model of sabot round
The pressure field affecting the sabot round is modelled with a vector-valued function. As an
example, the function
p ( x , y , z ) =p 1 ( x , y , z ) i+ p 2 ( x , y , z ) j+ p1 ( x , y , z ) k
represents the pressure field that exists in the gun tube. The component of the pressure in the
x , y and z directions are p 1, p 2 and p 3, respectively. To be specific with an example,
suppose p ( x , y , z ) =2 xyi+ xz j+3 y k is the pressure field function. Then the pressure in the
tube at the point A(1,2,3) would be p ( x , y , z ) =4 i+3 j+5 k . Obviously, this pressure field
has an influence on the motion of the projectile. With mathematical models of the pressure
influence, engineers can determine the flight characteristics of the penetrator.

Dot product is used to influence the pressure field on the sabot round. By calculating dot
product of the pressure field with a unit vector normal to the surface of the projectile, we can
pinpoint the pressure at that point on the sabot round.

Figure 5. Dot product of pand n is the influence of the vector p on the planar surface.

Before we do the three-dimensional problem, we start with the simplest two-dimensional

case: finding the normal vector to a line. One representation of a line l 1 is the equation
 −a c
ax +by + c=0 . Recall the slope-intercept form of the equation of the line, y= x− . From
b b
−a
this form we see that the slope m 1of l 1 ism 1= . A second line, l 2 , perpendicular to l 1
b
b
would have slopem 2= , the negative reciprocal of m 1 .
a

EXAMPLE 1: Given the linel 1:3 x +2 y+ 4=0,

a. Plot the line
Rewrite in the slope-intercepts form ( y=mx+b ) by solving for y .
2 y=−3 x−4
−3
y= x−2
2
−3
Using slope ( ) and y-intercepts (−2) to plot the line
2
b. Find the slope of the line l 1 .
−3
l 1=
2
c. Find the slope of a line l 2 perpendicular to l 1.
2
l 2=
3

A vector v coincident with (or parallel to) the line l 1 has components v=bi−aj . Of course,
this is not the only vector parallel to l 1 , as any scalar multiple of v will be parallel to v and
l 1. Unit vectors are used to standardize operations with vectors. A unit vector has length one.
b −a
For example, the unit vector for v is the vector u= i+ j.
√ a +b
2 2
√ a 2+ b2

EXAMPLE 2:
a. Use the gradient operator to find a vector perpendicular to the line 3x + 2y + 4 = 0.

¿ ( −23 ,1)
b. Find a vector normal to the line 7x - 2y + 6 = 0, then sketch the line and the normal vector
to the line at the point P (0,3).
( x−0 , y−3 )
 ( 7 x +6 )
y=
2

(
Substitute x into vector x−0 ,
( 7 x+ 6 )
2−3 )

c. Plot the parabola x 2+ 5 x −7 y=0 and the unit normal vector at the point P(2,2)
1 2 5
y= x + x
7 7
' 2 5
f ( x )= x +
7 7
' ' 9
f ( 2 ) :f ( 2 )=
7
−7
mnormal=
9
−7
y−2= ( x−2 )
9
EXAMPLE 3:
a. Find the dot product of the vectors u = 3i + 2 j + 3k and v = 6i - 5 j + 4k.
U . V =( 3.6 )+ ( 2.−5 ) + ( 3.4 )
U . V =18−10+12
U . V =20

b. Find a unit vector of u = 2i + 2 j + k, then evaluate the dot product of the unit vector with
the vector function f (x, y, z) = 2xy I + 3z j + 2y k.
|u|=√ ( 22 +22 +12 )=√ 4 +4 +1
¿ √ 9=3
u 2 i+2 j+k
u= =
|u| 3
2 2 1
u= i+ j+ k
3 3 3
Evaluate dot product of u with the vector function f(x,y,z) =2xyi + 3xj+2yk:

u.f = ( 23 i+ 23 j+ 13 k) . ( 2 xyi+3 xj+2 yk )

 2 2 1
u.f = .2 xy+ .3 z + .2 y
3 3 3
4 xy 2y
¿ +2 z +
3 3