A maintainable large bore, high performance railgun barrel

Author

Newman, D.C. ; Bauer, D.P. ; Wahrer, D. ; Knoth, E.

Author_Institution

IAP Res. Inc., Dayton, OH, USA

Volume

31

Issue

1

fYear

1995

Firstpage

344

Lastpage

347

Abstract

This paper reviews the design features and performance characteristics for a large bore (90 mm) barrel system fabricated for the Defence Research Agency (DRA) to operate at the Kirkcudbright Electromagnetic Launch Facility. This 90 mm barrel was designed for testing developmental launch package designs. The barrel design permits the rapid refurbishment of bore insulators and rails that are commonly damaged by launch package failures during development testing. The barrel system is designed for operation with both plasma and metal armatures up to peak current levels of 3.5 MA. The results of initial performance testing including inductance gradient and bore deflection are presented.<>

Keywords

inductance; insulators; railguns; testing; 3.5 MA; 90 mm; Defence Research Agency; Kirkcudbright Electromagnetic Launch Facility; bore deflection testing; bore insulators refurbishment; high performance railgun barrel; inductance gradient testing; large bore railgun barrel; launch package design testing; metal armatures; peak current levels; plasma armatures; Boring; Electromagnetic launching; Inductance; Insulation; Insulator testing; Packaging; Plasma applications; Railguns; Rails; System testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.364664

Filename

364664