Welcome to the CEW Simulator
The Explosive Weapon Effects Simulator visualises the effects of explosive weapons in populated areas. Five explosive weapons and five fabricated populated areas are featured for examining pre-computed weapon effects in a virtual 3D environment.
See user guide for instructions and navigation tipsData of populated areas
Populated areas of the Simulator comprise:
- 2D background images illustrating streets, residential and industrial areas, meadows, farmlands, rivers, lakes, etc.
- 3D models of buildings, vehicles and trees
- Population distributions in open spaces, buildings and vehicles
The following tables summarise the number of buildings, vehicles and people present in the populated area scenarios; serving as a basis for computing weapon effects.
Type | Open area | Hamlet | Village | Town | City |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Residential buildings | 0 | 23 | 217 | 1097 | 1097 |
Non-residential buildings with people present only during the day | 0 | 1 | 32 | 176 | 250 |
Non-residential buildings with people present during the day and night | 0 | 0 | 9 | 30 | 88 |
Other buildings (i.e. barns, churches) | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
1 | 32 | 259 | 1305 | 1438 |
Type | Open area | Hamlet | Village | Town | City |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Car | 0 | 5 | 27 | 156 | 332 |
Truck | 0 | 2 | 6 | 29 | 37 |
Bus | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 25 |
0 | 7 | 34 | 195 | 394 |
Type | Open area | Hamlet | Village | Town | City |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Car | 0 | 2 | 7 | 42 | 80 |
Truck | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 13 |
Bus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
0 | 2 | 9 | 49 | 99 |
Location | Open area | Hamlet | Village | Town | City |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Open space | 9 | 9 | 202 | 4227 | 10642 |
Buildings | 10 | 24 | 1320 | 23660 | 47462 |
Vehicles | 0 | 12 | 80 | 541 | 1201 |
19 | 45 | 1602 | 28428 | 59305 |
Location | Open area | Hamlet | Village | Town | City |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Open space | 0 | 1 | 16 | 338 | 851 |
Buildings | 0 | 58 | 1928 | 27558 | 54502 |
Vehicles | 0 | 2 | 9 | 55 | 135 |
0 | 61 | 1953 | 27951 | 55488 |
Data of weapon systems
The featured weapon systems imitate actual characteristics in terms of precision, modes of employment and combination of effects. However, no precise data of a particular weapon model is used. Instead, average values are calculated from a selection of similar weapon systems. The following table summarises data of the featured weapon systems, serving as a basis for computing weapon effects.
Feature | MBRL | Artillery gun | Mortar | Tank gun | Aircraft bomb |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Size (calibre or mass) | 122 mm | 155 mm | 120 mm | 120 mm | 500 lb |
Number of rounds in a salvo | 12 | 12 | 9 | N/A | N/A |
Number of rounds in a barrage | 40 | 36 | 27 | N/A | N/A |
Circular error probable in range | 300 m | 270 m | 140 m | 4 m | 100 m (unguided) 2 m (guided) |
Circular error probable in deflection | 160 m | 90 m | 50 m | 2 m | 100 m (unguided) 2 m (guided) |
Vertical angle at impact | 30° | 30° | 65° | 15° | 75° |
Speed at impact | 700 m/s | 700 m/s | 100 m/s | 800 m/s | 100 m/s |
Cumulative fragment mass | 12 kg | 18 kg | 11 kg | 12 kg | 140 kg |
Computation and visualisation methodology
The Simulator provides primary (originating from the munition) and secondary (originating from immediate environment) weapon effects, which were pre-computed for all scenario variations based on the data presented in the previous sections. The computation environment uses a probabilistic approach along with well-established and publicly available methods, as well as conservative assessments to quantify weapon effects.
Explosive loads are predicted based on a simulated 3D propagation of the blast wave and fragments, which takes shadowing and focusing effects of buildings into account. Based on explosive loads, the computation environment estimates local individual damage for people, buildings and vehicles:
- Probability of occurrence of non-lethal and lethal injuries of people in open space, buildings and vehicles
- Probability of occurrence of plastic deformation and failure of building components (walls and windows) and vehicle components (windows)
The Simulator displays local individual damage in each scenario, using heat maps on the ground, buildings and vehicles. The heat maps apply a logarithmic scale for mapping probabilities of occurrence from 100 % to 0.01 %; displaying colours from dark red to pale yellow. Heat maps on the ground show damage on people in open space and heat maps on buildings show damage on walls and windows. Predicted damage on vehicle windows is visualised by the colour of the semi-transparent box around each vehicle.
Based on inflicted local individual damage, the computation environment determines collective damage for people, buildings and vehicles:
- Number of affected people in open space, buildings and vehicles
- Number of buildings with damaged windows and walls
- Number of vehicles with damaged windows
The Simulator displays collective damage as text output in the four boxes at the bottom right corner of the displayed scenario. The figures for the injured/dead in open space covers the entire affected area. Please use the heat map provided to help determine the likelihood of injuries and death in a specific area.
The Simulator provides two sets of results for each scenario variation, based on two different approaches of the computation environment for modelling the imprecision of weapon systems. In general, imprecision leads to a deviation between the actual and intended impact point: the more imprecise weapon system, the larger the deviation. Obviously pre-determining the exact impact location of an imprecise weapon system is not possible. For this, the known degree of imprecision (i.e. Circular Error Probable, CEP) is used to predetermine the probability that an impact will occur within a particular area.
The first approach randomly determines one possible impact point based on the CEP and provides the effects of this possible outcome. Users can access the results of this approach by choosing the option "use one possible outcome" of the menu "result approach" in the sidebar on the left. The second approach considers several possible impact points and applies a weighted average to combine the effects of the different possible outcomes. Choosing the option "use weighted average of several possible outcomes" of the menu can access results of this approach.