Effect of in-bore gas on railgun performance

Acceleration of a projectile in a nonevacuated railgun bore produces a series of shock waves traveling through the gas in front of the projectile which retards the projectile's motion. A model is presented which describes the three components of this retarding force-the force required to accele...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) 1991-01, Vol.27 (1), p.120-125
Main Authors: Rolader, G.E., Batteh, J.H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
430303 > Particle Accelerators-- Experimental Facilities & Equipment
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
AIR
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
Control systems
DRAG
Electric shock
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
Force control
Fuels >
GASES
HELIUM
INTERACTIONS
KINETICS
NONMETALS
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA GUNS
Pressure control
PROJECTILES
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
Railguns
RARE GASES
SHOCK WAVES
TESTING 700460 > Fusion Technology-- Heating & Fueling Systems
TRAVELLING WAVES
Velocity control
Weight control
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Acceleration of a projectile in a nonevacuated railgun bore produces a series of shock waves traveling through the gas in front of the projectile which retards the projectile's motion. A model is presented which describes the three components of this retarding force-the force required to accelerate the gas to the projectile velocity as it is entrained by the shock front, the force required to continue to accelerate previously shocked gas as the projectile accelerates, and the force required to overcome the viscous drag which arises from the interaction of the shocked gas and the gun tube. The authors address the relative contributions of the three components of the force and the significance of the retarding force when compared to the net accelerating force. The validity of the strong shock approximation for computing the retarding force is discussed.< >
ISSN:0018-9464
1941-0069
DOI:10.1109/20.101006