Results of railgun experiments powered by magnetic flux compression generators
Abstract
The potential of electromagnetic railguns to accelerate projectiles to hypervelocities is explored. The effort was intended to (1) determine experimentally the limits of railgun operation, (2) verify calculations of railgun performance, and (3) establish a data base at megampere currents. The program has led to (1) the selection of a particular magnetic flux compression generator design for a set of initial experiments and (2) the design of small- and large-square bore railguns to match the expected MFCG power profile. The bore sizes are 12.7 and 50mm, respectively. The design of the railguns and the diagnostic and data reduction techniques are discussed, followed by the results of eight experiments with the two railgun types.
- Publication:
-
Presented at the ARRADCOM/DARPA Conf. on Electromagnetic Guns and Launchers
- Pub Date:
- October 1980
- Bibcode:
- 1980darp.conf....4H
- Keywords:
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- Data Reduction;
- Hypervelocity Guns;
- Hypervelocity Launchers;
- Hypervelocity Projectiles;
- Data Bases;
- Gun Launchers;
- Physics (General)