HART hypervelocity augmented railgun test facility

The HART multibank facility for testing independently augmented railgun configurations is the basis for HART I, a 1.27-cm square-bore launcher that can accommodate a variety of insulator types in tile and strip forms, together with the densely-placed B-dot instrumentation. Tests are devised on the basis of simulations that are conducted to choose the primary and augmenting currents, as well as their independent timing. Independent augmentation permits hypervelocity projectile tests to be conducted at low plasma armature currents, thereby reducing bore wear.