This paper documents a series of tests in a 4.8 m long, 25 mm square bore railgun that characterize plasma armature behavior in a hypervelocity regime. Projectile masses ranging from 15 to 23 grams were accelerated to velocities of 2.5 to 5.6 km/s. A linear decrease in momentum transfer efficiency with velocity was observed. This performance degradation was greater than predicted, and may be caused by the failure of the plasma armature to remain compact. Secondary arcs were noted when copper alloy rails were used, and an expanding primary arc was observed when molybdenum rails were used. In an attempt to circumvent armature expansion, the railgun configuration was modified to include a muzzle shunt resistor; this modification is a type of augmentation, such that the ratio of armature magnetic force to armature current is increased. Muzzle shunt augmentation (MSA) had little effect on the plasma armature's behavior. Measurements of the momentum transfer efficiency during acceleration show a slight but significant increase in efficiency of the MSA configuration over the simple breech-fed configuration. This paper describes an effort to quantify the various loss mechanisms by comparing experimental performance (velocity) to model predictions


    Zugriff

    Zugriff über TIB

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen

    Bestellung bei Subito €


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Performance characteristics of a high velocity, 25 mm railgun


    Weitere Titelangaben:

    Betriebseigenschaften eines Hochgeschwindigkeitsschienengeschützes mit einer Bohrung von 25 mm


    Beteiligte:
    Jamison, K.A. (Autor:in) / Littrell, D.M. (Autor:in)


    Erscheinungsdatum :

    1995


    Format / Umfang :

    6 Seiten, 13 Quellen




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Konferenz)


    Format :

    Print


    Sprache :

    Englisch




    In-bore railgun projectile velocity

    Bauer, D.P. / Barber, J.P. | Tema Archiv | 1986


    Observation of extended plasma armatures in a high velocity railgun

    LITTRELL, DONALD / JAMISON, KEITH | AIAA | 1993


    Observation of Extended Plasma Armatures in a High Velocity Railgun

    Littrell, D. M. / Jamison, K. A. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993


    High energy railgun designs

    Benford, J. | Tema Archiv | 1984


    Experimental measurement of railgun performance

    Sato, K. / Yanagisawa, M. / Yamori, A. et al. | Tema Archiv | 1989