Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1379 Limited Abilities (5k)

Seeing their expressions, Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "This is the second reason I didn't have time to mention earlier for wanting to develop electromagnetic pulse bombs—for electronic systems, its area-of-effect damage is much stronger than that of ordinary bombs!"

No wonder he was so keen on developing this feature. Non-lethal damage was one reason, and area-of-effect damage was another. After all, apart from certain special battlefields, other battlefields might not necessarily need the non-lethal damage function.

The comrades nodded repeatedly, "Yes, this seems reliable."

If Gao Zhendong solved the theoretical difficulties, then Professor Zhou, after emerging from the joy of the novel technical approach, began to consider practical problems.

"Professor Gao, that's true, but how to reduce the area of ​​the closed loop in this structure is a problem." He looked at it for a long time, but he didn't expect Gao Zhendong to do it.

Before Gao Zhendong could answer, Professor Luo got excited and said, "Finally, I'm on my turf. I couldn't get involved in anything before, but now I can finally show my skills."

“Professor Zhou, I’m familiar with this! I guess Professor Gao’s idea is to make the explosive, during the explosion from back to front, act like an expanding cone, gradually expanding the middle aluminum tube from back to front in a very short time until it contacts and short-circuits the outer coil, thus narrowing the closed loop from back to front.” After saying that, he glanced at Gao Zhendong, as if asking if that was right.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Professor Luo is right. The difficulty here is that the aluminum tube cannot break before its diameter increases and it comes into contact with the outer coil. It can only break after the short circuit reduces the area of ​​the closed loop. That is the problem you are facing, Professor Luo."

It's no exaggeration to say it's difficult; it's like carving something during an explosive explosion. You can imagine how difficult that is.

Professor Luo frowned as well: "Yes, this is indeed a problem. If we're going to tackle it, the only way is through more experiments."

He would rather carve patterns on excrement than face the problem of ensuring the shaping process of the external aluminum tubes during the explosion of explosives.

Although the self-forging fragmentation warhead of the terminally guided projectile also uses the explosion of explosives to shape the projectile, that was done after Gao Zhendong had already given a relatively reliable range of parameters. It can be said that it was following the path given by Gao Zhendong.

This time, Gao Zhendong's words clearly implied that there were no such favorable conditions to offer.

Moreover, this kind of test is one-time and destructive, requiring the explosion of a sample each time, and it cannot be reused, which leads to a sharp increase in test costs.

The comrades were all taken aback; this requirement was indeed quite high.

Professor Zhou laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'll provide the electromagnetic theory, and you solve the detonation problem. We'll work together, and I don't believe we can't figure it out!"

Professor Luo was relieved. Although Professor Zhou was of little help with his bombardment problem, it was still nice to have someone with him. At least if they failed, they would both be ridiculed.

However, Professor Luo was mistaken; Gao Zhendong did offer some help.

"Professor Luo, you can use the finite element method to analyze and calculate this, which will save you a lot of trouble before the experiment," Gao Zhendong reminded him.

In fact, in Gao Zhendong's previous life, he had seen a paper in China using ANSYS to run finite element analysis and simulate the warhead of an electromagnetic pulse weapon; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered trying to develop this technology. And coincidentally, this paper came from Jinchen University of Technology decades later, a case of the paper returning home in triumph.

After all, without this readily available information, his understanding of electromagnetic pulse bombs would not be sufficient to support the activation of this project.

“Finite element method? Ah, right, I remember now, you promoted it before. This technology is indeed very useful here. Although our department's computers are a bit slow, they can still handle it.” The computational load of finite element analysis is huge, and even the fastest C6132 in his hands is struggling.

But Professor Luo didn't care; walking slowly was much better than having no road at all.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "It's too slow, it won't work, it will affect the progress. Calculating for half a day and then detonating once will take a long time. But don't worry, I'll write you a note, go to Factory 1201 of the Twelfth Ministry of Machinery Industry and ask for a C6132N computer, it should be helpful for your work."

The C6132 series chips are manufactured in factory 1234, but the complete system is currently assembled in factory 1201.

“C6132N? I have 32 machines, no need, no need,” Professor Luo said with a smile. He appreciated the offer, but for this kind of calculation, more machines simply didn't necessarily increase the speed.

Before Gao Zhendong could speak, the chief engineer of the National Defense Commission laughed and said, "Really don't want it? The speed of the 32N is more than 7 times that of the basic 32 model."

"How much?" Professor Luo was completely unaware of the C6132N because his recent research project hadn't been going very well. So when he heard the chief engineer's question, his mind nearly exploded.

He turned to look at Gao Zhendong. In this matter, he trusted no one but Gao Zhendong, and it was Gao Zhendong who had suggested that he use the 32N.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "It's true, that's why I told you to go and get a 32N."

Such intricate work as carving within a shockwave was difficult to accomplish before computers were fast enough. This is the main reason why Gao Zhendong hadn't proposed an electromagnetic pulse bomb before.

Seeing something but not being able to eat it—isn't that just tormenting our comrades in the army?

However, now that the conditions are gradually maturing, these kinds of things can begin to be implemented.

"I want two!" Professor Luo didn't care about anything else; with such a good deal, he had to act quickly. Professor Gao was really good; he took care of everything.

The chief engineer of the National Defense Commission laughed: "You really have quite the appetite. Just one unit? Everyone's waiting for this thing. Two units... wait a bit longer."

The NMOS process has only just been successful, and production volume has not yet increased. It seems that a lot of machines can be made from one wafer, but after being distributed throughout the country, there are not many left.

Professor Zhou nodded: "Yes, one is enough. I don't have very high requirements for computing speed. Lao Luo, just give me one of your 32 machines."

As someone who had previously focused on theory, he hadn't even had a turn with the 32-inch machine yet. It wasn't that there weren't enough of them, but mainly that they were a bit too expensive, and the school's funding was also limited.

Gao Zhendong couldn't help but chuckle.

Luo Yonghao, you tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead.

Professor Luo looked at Professor Zhou and almost couldn't catch his breath.

"Old Zhou, that's not fair. Fine, no problem!" The first half of the sentence was considered unfair, but the second half was incredibly straightforward. On this project, they were all in the same boat.

After Gao Zhendong saw that they had finished dividing the spoils, he brought up the next step.

"I think everyone understands the main issues, so I'll talk about the details."

Luo turned his head and looked at Gao Zhendong as if he were an alien.

"More details? Professor Gao, you're not human, you're a god!"

Given Gao Zhendong's workload, it would be good enough if he could find the time to figure out the principles. I didn't expect him to have such attention to detail.

It wasn't just him; other comrades had similar thoughts, which was rather inhuman.

Seeing their expressions, Gao Zhendong could only laugh and say, "By the way, by the way, the principle is relatively simple and not too troublesome, so it saves some time, which is why I can use it to consider the theory."

That's an exaggeration!

However, if we look at it from the principle alone, it does seem relatively simple: magnetic flux is conserved, the area is compressed rapidly, explosive forming is used for rapid compression, and that's it.

However, as everyone knows, the result may be simple, but the process of finding the result is extremely difficult. Therefore, whether the result is simple or not has absolutely nothing to do with the difficulty of the work.

The famous joke goes, "It costs 1 yuan to draw a line, but 9999 yuan to find where to draw that line." But this process seems to have been absent in Gao Zhendong's case; he seems to have directly found the most feasible solution.

It can only be said that the differences between people are sometimes unimaginable.

Fortunately, most of the people here were used to dealing with Gao Zhendong and were mentally prepared. Only Professor Zhou was experiencing this kind of shock for the first time.

While he was still secretly alarmed, Professor Luo was already ready to reap the benefits.

"That's great! Professor Gao, go ahead and I'll take notes." Every little bit helps, especially with Professor Gao, who usually saves more than just a little bit of trouble.

Gao Zhendong first pointed to the second diagram in the schematic diagram, which is used to show the expansion of the aluminum tube during the explosion: "I have made a preliminary calculation of the expansion angle of this aluminum tube, and it is appropriate to be 17 to 20 degrees. This is the result of weighing various factors."

These are all from academic papers, so they are relatively reliable.

Professor Luo suddenly felt that he didn't want 32N anymore. What was the point of it now that the results were out?
Gao Zhendong didn't care about any of that. He laid out lines on the blackboard one by one, from the calculation of magnetic flux to the deduction of magnetic field strength, all the way to the model formula of detonation finite element analysis, talking non-stop.

Professor Zhou felt at this moment that this matter didn't seem to require his help.

Gao Zhendong finally stopped talking and said with a smile, "That's all I can think of for now. The rest of the work will have to be done by you comrades. My abilities are limited, and this is all I can do."

These are all contents from academic papers, belonging to the basic category, so they are unlikely to be affected by desensitization and can be used directly. However, what is basic decades later is not so basic now, and is extremely useful.

After all, a master's degree decades from now will start from the height of decades of research achievements, and there will be so much to learn.

Professor Luo looked at the densely packed formulas on the blackboard and felt that he had learned a new term.

"Limited capability" refers to a capability that is very strong in the finite element method, or simply "limited capability".

Looking at the finite element analysis model on the blackboard, it took into account everything from detonation theory to mechanics of materials, and even the changes in the mechanical properties of materials under temperature changes.

"Professor Gao, your blackboard has saved me at least two years of work!" Professor Luo exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed, it's been at least a year and a half, if not two years," Professor Zhou said.

Professor Luo rolled his eyes upon hearing this: "No, what do you mean? So you're saying I'm going to be six months behind you?"

The comrades all laughed. Regardless of who saved money, the fact was that the equipment's preparation time had been reduced, and now it seemed that the chances of success were extremely high.

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "It's not that bad. You guys still have a lot to do. These are all theoretical formulas, but they basically don't yield any results. The final selection of which actual parameter to use based on the theoretical formulas still depends on the comrades to study it step by step, calculate it step by step, and conduct it experiment by experiment. I'm just playing the role of throwing out a brick to start the discussion."

“No, this brick is way too big, much more substantial than the jade behind it. Without this brick, the jade won’t be ready anytime soon,” Professor Luo continued, following Gao Zhendong’s lead.

The chief engineer of the National Defense Commission looked at all this thoughtfully: "Zhendong, you just mentioned low-frequency pulse missiles. Is high-frequency pulse missile also in your considerations?"

Upon hearing this, the comrades from the Aircraft Equipment Bureau almost gave the chief engineer a thumbs-up on the spot.

No wonder he's the chief engineer, and no wonder I often deal with Chief Engineer Gao—his thinking is so clear! He's good at seizing every opportunity.

That's exactly what Chief Engineer Gao meant, isn't it?

"Anything else?" Luo and Zhou looked at Gao Zhendong, their eyes gleaming.

Gao Zhendong smiled and shook his head: "Yes, but the most urgent task now is to make this explosive magnetic compression generator. Whether it's low frequency or high frequency, it's all based on it. We'll make the low frequency one first, and then connect the rest after the low frequency one is done. The high frequency one has a complex structure and is quite expensive, and there are still some parts that I haven't figured out yet."

The chief engineer nodded upon hearing this: "Yes, what you said makes sense. Low-frequency structures are simple, low-cost, and easy to implement. They can also play a very good role when the enemy is unprepared, so they are indeed a practical choice. Okay, don't bite off more than you can chew. Let's talk about the low-frequency ones first."

There isn't a single person on guard against this right now. Even the Kingdom of Russia and the Kingdom of Luo, which have already begun researching electromagnetic weapons, are not on guard, because they are still a long way from success.

Therefore, developing low-frequency pulse bombs can achieve good results at a relatively low cost, so there is no need to rush to develop high-frequency bombs, which are both expensive and difficult.

As for Gao Zhendong saying that there are some things he hasn't figured out yet, it's hard to say whether that's true or not. After all, there are precedents of him not knowing much about a certain field one day, but talking eloquently and full of ideas the next.

After hearing his words, Gao Zhendong pointed to the FCG diagram on the blackboard: "Even this isn't finished yet. This is just the core of the low-frequency pulse bomb, but not the whole thing."

Professor Luo nodded: "Yes, indeed. I just thought about it too. The power supply for this thing is far more complex than that of a regular bomb. It needs rapid discharge capability to quickly establish the initial current as high as possible, and then detonate the explosive as quickly as possible when the initial current reaches its peak. These are all much higher requirements than those for a regular bomb."

To achieve rapid discharge, a capacitor is required. However, with a capacitor, the current drops rapidly after reaching its peak, which imposes requirements on the detonation speed.

The chief engineer of the National Defense Commission and the comrades from the Air Force Equipment Bureau exchanged glances. They were all formidable individuals, none of them weak; each possessed top-notch professional skills. While they might not be as adept as Gao Zhendong, who pioneered new paths and overcame numerous obstacles, once they found their way in their respective fields, their actions were astonishingly swift.

Professor Luo: You can call me Lao Luo in front of Committee Member Gao and I won't argue with you. But what should you call me outside?
The chief engineer of the National Defense Commission thought for a moment, and then immediately solved a major problem for Lao Luo: "Here's what we have. There's something that can ensure your explosives detonate at the right time to the greatest extent possible. Comrade Zhendong was a great help in improving this. He didn't tell you because of disciplinary restrictions. Now I'll help him solve this problem. After I finish the formalities, I'll give you the information and samples of this new type of fuse."

He was referring to the explosive wire detonator used in nuclear weapons, for which Gao Zhendong provided new power electronic devices that significantly improved the power supply.

Now that we have something good, we might as well make better use of it. Although this detonator is related to nuclear weapons, it is far from being a core component. It is acceptable to promote its use within an appropriate scope.

After all, when using pyrotechnic explosives, the propagation speed must be considered. It's better to use explosive wire to solve the problem in one step.

Gao Zhendong nodded repeatedly. He didn't care what the EMP was detonated with later, anyway, this explosive wire detonator was the ultimate solution.

Upon hearing this, Lao Luo was overjoyed. Dealing with leaders was truly beneficial; look, the difficulty he was previously struggling with had been resolved in an instant. For him, the rapid discharge power system wasn't a problem; it was the fuse, which required a specific detonation speed, that was causing him some trouble.

"Thank you, boss. This saves me three months of work."

When it was time for the comrades to leave, Gao Zhendong asked the chief engineer to stay behind. The comrades from the Air Force Equipment Bureau, seeing that he hadn't called them, simply said goodbye and left. Listen to what you should listen to, and resolutely ignore what you shouldn't.

"Is there anything else you haven't finished saying?"

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "We've finished talking about EMP, but there's something I'd like to suggest you research if you have the time and resources. But it's just a suggestion. This thing is unlikely to be used on the front lines. It might be useful in special circumstances, like a little something extra."

The chief engineer immediately perked up, saying that any snack was fine as long as it was edible.

Moreover, Gao Zhendong's statement about special circumstances might actually have a surprising effect, depending on the balance between the costs and benefits.

"Also a non-lethal weapon?"

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "No, or rather, not entirely. This thing is like a rubber bullet. A small quantity is non-lethal, but a large quantity is lethal, and it's very unpredictable and difficult to defend against. So I suggest that we start with low-power versions, figure out how to make them, and develop the theory. If we increase the power, it will easily cause public opinion problems."

Is it strange and difficult to guard against? Or is it a matter of public opinion?
Holy crap, is Comrade Zhendong thinking about one of those two things?

We need to get all three defenses, but we have no intention of equipping all three corresponding attack capabilities.

(End of this chapter)