The internal structure and dynamics of the railgun plasma armature between infinitely wide ablating rails

Computer simulations of the plasma flow in two-dimensionally symmetric railgun plasma arcs were performed. The direction of symmetry is normal to the insulator surface, so that the rails are effectively infinite in width. The rail surface ablates according to one of two ablation models, in which eit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 233 - 239
Main Author Frese, M.H.
Format Journal Article Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published United States IEEE 01.01.1991
Subjects
430100 - Particle Accelerators- Design, Development, & Operation
430200 - Particle Accelerators- Beam Dynamics, Field Calculations, & Ion Optics
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700460 - Fusion Technology- Heating & Fueling Systems
ABLATION
ACCELERATORS
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
Computer simulation
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
Conducting materials
Conductivity
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRICAL INSULATORS
ELECTRODYNAMICS
Fu
Fuels-
Insulation
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA GUNS
Plasma materials processing
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROJECTILES
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
Railguns
Rails
SIMULATION
SYMMETRY
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VELOCITY
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Summary:Computer simulations of the plasma flow in two-dimensionally symmetric railgun plasma arcs were performed. The direction of symmetry is normal to the insulator surface, so that the rails are effectively infinite in width. The rail surface ablates according to one of two ablation models, in which either all absorbed energy flux, or only the excess over that which the rail material can conduct away, ablates mass. A number of combinations of initial conditions, boundary conditions, and resistivity models were explored. The full ablation model produces an arc of continuously growing mass and length in which the current distributions reaches from the projectile halfway to the breech. The conduction-limited ablation model produces a compact arc approximately eight times the bore height in length, which ceases to ablate material from the rails before the projectile reaches a velocity of 1 km/s. There is need for further study in several areas. These include the arc initiation process, the ablation of the insulators, and three-dimensional effects.< >
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CONF-9004136-
ISSN:0018-9464
1941-0069
DOI:10.1109/20.101032