Acad. S. Vodenicharov was born on September 01, 1944 in Sofia. In 1963, he has completed his secondary education at the Mechano-Technical School of Sofia. At that time, Acad. S. Vodenicharov has felt his first inspirations in metal science and technology of metals, which have become later his destiny. Afterwards, in the late 1960s, as a student in the Faculty of Machine Technology at the Higher Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (now, Technical University of Sofia), he has directed his interests in the field of Dynamic Properties of Materials. In 1968, he has taken his M. Sc. thesis – the specialty “Technology of Metals”, M. Sc. in Mechanical Engineer.

The professional carrier of Acad. S. Vodenicharov started in 1968 as a technologist in the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building. Shortly after that in 1969, he started working as an engineer and in 1970 as a research fellow in the Institute of Metal Science and Technology of Metals (now, Institute of Metal Science, Equipment and Technologies with Hydro- and Aerodynamics Centre “Acad. Angel Balevski”) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In fact, Acad. S. Vodenicharov starts his real research in the field of Dynamic Properties of Materials with the development of his Ph. D. thesis at the above mentioned Institute. He has defended his thesis entitled “Impact of High-Velocity Deformation on Mechanical Properties and Plastic Forming of New Alloys, Cast by Method of Counter-Pressure Casting” under the guidance of Prof. H. Kortenski in 1974. The papers published in connection with the thesis have been highly evaluated. After the defiance of his Ph. D. thesis, for few years, he has succeeded to organize a group of young talented engineers and mathematicians, some of them Ph. D. students, who have been enthusiastic in studying the actual problem in global aspect for behavior of metal bodies under dynamic loading. In 1983, Acad. S. Vodenicharov has become an Associate Professor and a Head of the Laboratory “Mechanical Testing of Materials” (1982–1986), a Head of the Scientific Section “Strength and Fracture of Materials” (1986–1991). A great number of papers have been published during this initial period, some of which entered his second thesis for obtaining the scientific degree “Doctor of Technical Sciences” in Fracture of Mechanics in 1991. This fundamental work entitled “Dynamic Fracture of Metals and Alloys” is dedicated to the development of the knowledge of dynamic fracture of metal structures, i. e., studying the strain-stress state of metal structures, the criteria for brittle and plastic fracture, methods and devices of metals testing, determining the degree of radiation embrittlement of reactor steels and its influence on the change of toughness of metal structures and some others. For the first time, in these studies, the influence of velocity of plastic deformation is taken into account in determining the two-dimensional surfaces of plasticity, and original models for deformation hardening are suggested; the J-integral for nonlinear processes of cracks propagation is defined at the criteria for brittle and plastic fracture; original methods and devices of testing of metals are proposed, including for: testing at high-velocity loading, determining the dynamic crack resistance; recording the residual pressures of first species; method of testing the dynamic behavior of metals, method of microstructure studying the dynamic plastic location and some others. Parts of these studies have formed his habilitation work for obtaining the Professor position in 1998. He is a founder and a Head of the Scientific Section “Technologies and Systems for Protection” from 1991.

Anti-drone system ADD-400-1

Anti-drone system ADD-400-1 is designed to: damage by means of metal fragments low-flying drones in flight; jamming the GPS navigation of the drones and can be used for the protection of military or civil infrastructure from drone air surveillance and military or civil infrastructure from drone attack.

Gateway Buoy system

In 2018, the Underwater Monitoring and Management System (Gateway Buoy System) has been successfully completed. It is designed to be used at depths of up to 100m in a marine environment with possibilities to: receive and execute commands using bidirectional a radio or hydroacoustic channel; rise to the water surface according to a program or by command sent via a hydroacoustic communication channel; transmit the hydrological information gathered by its own sensors and receive commands and information to be used for reprogramming of its operational mode; transmit hydrological information to a boat or shore station via a satellite communication channel; receive and retransmit commands via a hydroacoustic and combined radio-hydroacoustic channel.

Jammer for underwater communications RACK-CS

RACK-CS is designed to: register the availability of communication signals in a maritime area; receive and analyze hydro acoustic signals emitted in the full frequency range of the systems for underwater communication; be activated remotely via a cable, when information for possible underwater targets is received from a radar, a sonar, by visual means, etc.; emit a series of pulses with tonal interference; provide non-isotropic emitting of signals – omnidirectional radiation in the horizontal plane and directed radiation in the vertical plane.