Inductively Coupled Augmented Railgun

TL;DR

This paper derives and numerically solves the complex non-linear dynamical equations of an inductively coupled augmented railgun, revealing potential performance improvements through parameter optimization.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed mathematical model of an augmented railgun with inductive coupling and demonstrates its potential for increased kinetic energy.

Findings

Augmented railgun achieves 42% higher armature kinetic energy.

Complex interactions require careful parameter optimization.

Numerical solutions reveal potential for performance enhancement.

Abstract

We derive the non-linear dynamical equations for an augmented electromagnetic railgun, whose augmentation circuit is inductively coupled to the gun circuit. We solve these differential equations numerically using example parameter values. We find a complicated interaction between the augmentation circuit, gun circuit, and mechanical degrees of freedom, leading to a complicated optimization problem. For certain values of parameters, we find that an augmented electromagnetic railgun has an armature kinetic energy that is 42% larger than the same railgun with no augmentation circuit. Optimizing the parameters may lead to further increase in performance.