Method of ballistic control and projectile rotation in a novel railgun

In order to realize the ballistic control of the railgun and the flight stability of the projectile, a new type of railgun is designed, which can control the muzzle velocity and rotation rate. The method of the muzzle velocity and overload control is to adjust the voltage or other parameters of pulse power supply. It would be easy to change velocity accurately in large wide. Another widespread concern problem is launching the spinning stability projectile by railgun. This paper designed a new structure of additional rails to generate an unsymmetrical magnetic field to produce rotational torque in armature. The structure is simple and can control the rotation rate by linear changing the barrel parameters. The calculation formulas of interior ballistic are derived by Biot-Safar law. The important parameter is the deflection angle of the additional rails relative to the symmetry plane of main rail. The larger the angle, the greater the rotation torque generated in the armature. To maintain the flight stability of the projectile, the barrel structural parameters should be proportional to the projectile structural parameters. When changing the muzzle velocity, the rotation rate will also be the equal proportion change. So that the gyro stability is the same. The experiment proves that the railgun designed in this paper can launch the projectile to rotate. And the rotational projectile may not cause the transition or much arcs. This method expands the application of the railgun.

Modeling and simulation of muzzle flow field of railgun with metal vapor and arc

During the electromagnetic railgun launching process,there will be a complex flow field with high temperature in the muzzle area because of the high-speed friction,transition and seco ndary arc-ignition.This paper models the muzzle area of railgun when the projectile is far away from the muzzle,and the dynamic simulation of the flow field with secondary arc in the muzzle area is carried out based on the magneto hydrodynamic equations.Meanwhile,a multi-component plasma transport model is used to analyze the muzzle arc plasma flow process of the mixed gas of Al vapor and the air.Furthermore,the pressure boundary conditions are fitted by the dynamic mesh simulation results.The current and voltage of the muzzle are obtained through the emission experiment of the railgun experimental prototype.We load the current data into the simulation model and the voltage of experiments and simulations are compared,which proves the accuracy of the simulation.Then the plasma temperature and the composition of Al vapor in the muzzle flow process are analyzed in-depth.