I have been watching a few videos and I can see that some of the tanks nowadays have such huge main guns that obviously have a lot of power, but what stops the Shockwave from travelling inside and around the interior of the tank where the crew are?
To me that sounds like it would cause a lot of damage with all the vibrations going on. Do the tank crew even feel the brunt of the shockwave?
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not really. the shockwave dissipates in the hull of the tank and the turret itself also has recoil dissipation as well. you can watch this video to see what happens when a turret fires https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC2ePKRvo9k
I can answer this one first hand as I used to drive an M1A2 Abrams SEP V2 in the Army. I have had the main gun directly over my head while being fired and the worst of it was being unable to see for about 10 seconds.
None of the members in the turret are strapped in because they have to constantly be moving and the way the seat is in the hull I’m sitting almost laying on my back while driving the tank.
Of course, I’ve been out since 2014 and am 70% disabled and have a lot of different issues including obviously hearing loss and tinnitus.
The tank is much, much heavier than the shell. Whatever momentum you impose on the shell does kick back, but the tank is strong enough to absorb it through the entire heavy hull – some do slide back when shooting, but it isn’t anything worse than rough terrain.
It’s like firing a gun. If you’re right in front of the barrel, your ears fucked. Even just a bit behind it is a lot better but still loud without ear pro.
A tank is the same…just a lot louder. But the crews have ear pro and inches of steel between them and the end of the barrel
I think the shockwave is what is created by explosion of the shell and dissipates out the end of the barrel. What you feel inside the tank is the recoil. Not 100% sure on the terms, but I was a loader, then driver and finally a gunner in a M60A3 tank. With practice rounds you felt a bit of recoil inside the tank a bit, but not much more than hitting bump in the road. Live rounds had way more kick, like hitting a big pothole while driving. It was loud though, but the headsets were pretty good. The tank itself was in the 60 ton range, so there was a lot of counterweight. Honestly, you didn’t really think about or much feel the recoil because there was so much going on at the same time you were firing, no matter which role you were in.
Not to be too reductive, but the tank, lol. The tank chassis is very heavy and structurally rigid, and is actually designed to damp vibrations in the chassis. Think of it as being in a bank vault when something loud goes off outside. You won’t hear much of anything. Think of it this way. Sound is vibrations in air. To reach your ear inside the tank, the sound outside has to vibrate the hull to make vibrations that can reach your ears. The hull of the tank is very heavy and rigid, it does not vibrate easily. So most of the sound is reflected away or dampened out by the hull, so very little of the sound energy makes it into the hull to make vibrations for your ear to hear.
I fire 105mm howitzers outside… even not in an enclosed space I can assure you with firing you WILL sustain TBI type injuries over time. The army won’t admit it but
Especially for the guys who are pulling the lanyard/closest to the breech.
>what stops the Shockwave from travelling inside and around the interior of the tank where the crew are?
That fact that it’s, y’know, A TANK. It’s armored enough to block actual physical shells, and most of the noise from firing is focused out the end of the barrel anyway.
The shockwave mostly leaves the gun thru the muzzle. The rest will be absorved by the enormous mass of the rest of the tank; only a small portion of the energy will damage the crew’s ears.
The very first time I was in a tank and it fired, it felt like the hatch above me slammed closed ontop of my helmet, very jarring.
After a few more times, I kinda got used to the feeling.
But when in the gunners seat, you feel almost nothing when firing, it was a surprise to me, but suppose thats because you are couped up in the turret away from the hatches.
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