Prototype testing for a hybrid gas-gun/railgun device
In 1984 Los Alamos began the design of the lethality test system (LTS), a facility to be used for the study of impact physics at velocities up to 15 km/s. The key component of LTS was an electromagnetic launcher capable of accelerating a 30 gram mass to 15 km/s. By the time of the Preliminary Design Review (July 1985) it was known from laboratory experiments that a conventional railgun was incapable of reaching 15 km/s starting at low velocity (/approximately/1 km/s) and a hybrid design was adopted for the LTS launcher. The hybrid launcher consisted of a two-stage hydrogen gun that preaccelerated the test mass to 6.5 km/s and an electromagnetic launcher for the final acceleration from 6.5 to 15 km/s. Design calculations predicted that injection into the railgun at 6.5 km/s would reduce ablation sufficiently to permit operation at 12 km/s with reasonable probability of achieving 15 km/s. The hybrid launcher design adopted for LTS presents some unique mechanical and electrical issues. In particular, the hybrid design requires that the plasma armature be established in a high pressure gas environment behind the projectile. To address this issue, as well as to evaluate the mechanical and electrical design, an 1.83 meter long prototype of the electromagnetic launcher barrel was built and tested. This paper describes the prototype launcher tests and the performance achieved. In addition, testing of a plasma initiator operating in a high pressure gas environment is discussed. 5 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 6044868
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-89-2138; CONF-890710-11; ON: DE89014294
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. international conference on megagauss magnetic field generation and related topics, Novosibirsk, USSR, 3 Jul 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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