External magnetic field influence on the behaviour of arc-driven railguns

Author

Becherini, G. ; Raugi, M. ; Tellini, A.

Author_Institution

Naval Acad., Livorno, Italy

Volume

29

Issue

1

fYear

1993

fDate

1/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

368

Lastpage

372

Abstract

An analysis of the effects of the application of an external magnetic field on the behavior of plasma-driven railguns is carried out. An evaluation of the quantity of material ablated from the rail and insulator walls and of the mass leakage from the rear of the arc and an estimate of secondary arc formation are carried out, modeling the characteristic quantities of the plasma arc by means of an adimensional model that was suitably adapted in order to reproduce some experimental data. The calculated data can reproduce the experimental data if a plasma mass leakage from the rear of the arc is assumed. The analysis of the application of the external field for the same propulsive force of a conventional railgun has shown that reduction of ablated mass, increase of final velocities, and a smaller probability of secondary arc formation can be reached

Keywords

electromagnetic launchers; magnetic fields; plasma guns; ablated mass; arc-driven railguns; external magnetic field; insulator walls; mass leakage; plasma-driven railguns; secondary arc formation; Atomic measurements; Electrons; Insulation; Magnetic fields; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density; Plasma materials processing; Plasma properties; Railguns; Rails;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.195602

Filename

195602