MAGRAC - A railgun simulation program

A computer simulation code has been developed and validated to predict the performance of a railgun electromagnetic accelerator. The code, called MAGRAC (Magnetic Railgun Accelerator), models the performance of a railgun driven by a magnetic flux compression current generator. The MAGRAC code employs a time-step solution of the nonlinear time-varying element railgun circuit to determine rail currents. From the rail currents, the projectile acceleration, velocity, and position are found. The MAGRAC code was validated through a series of eight railgun tests. This paper describes the formulation of the MAGRAC railgun model and compares the predicted current waveforms with those obtained from full-scale experiments.