As a projectile travels down the length of a gun tube, a band of relatively soft material surrounding the rear of the projectile is keyed into the tube rifling. This results in a stabilized rotation of the projectile. This band of material is referred to as the rotating band and excessive wear while traversing the tube can result in unsatisfactory functioning of the projectile and potential damage to the gun. The buildup of residue from propellant within the rifling can make the difference between a rotating band being intact through firing or be completely worn out. Improved rifling will help mitigate such problems and enhance cannon performance with both legacy and new design ammunition.

Testing new rifling configurations is exceedingly costly and needs to be mitigated through modeling. However, modeling the wear that occurs between the tube and projectile is non-trivial. There are many contributing factors including reacting propellant gas flows, heat transfer, geometry, material properties and phase change, coatings, and surface roughness. Addressing even a few of the factors within a numerical simulation will require the development of a complex model. There is an opportunity for research in developing models of this interface, addressing several factors, especially material properties and phase change phenomena.