Results of railgun experiments powered by magnetic flux compression generators

Conference · Mon Mar 16 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:6363058

Hawke, R S; Brooks, A L; Deadrick, J; Scudder, J K; Fowler, C M; Caird, R S; Peterson, D R

Researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory initiated a joint railgun research and development program to explore the potential of electromagnetic railguns to accelerate projectiles to hypervelocities. 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 the selection of a particular magnetic flux compression generator (MFCG) design for a set of initial experiments and the design of small- and large-square-bore railguns to match the expected MFCG power profile. The bore sizes are 12.7 and 50 mm, respectively. In this paper, the design of the railguns and the diagnostic and data reduction techniques, followed by the results of eight experiments with the two railgun types, are presented.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA); Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48; W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6363058
• Report Number(s): UCRL-84875(Rev.1); CONF-801138-2(Rev.1)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420200* -- Engineering-- Facilities
Equipment
& Techniques
ACCELERATORS
DATA
DESIGN
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
LAUNCHING
NUMERICAL DATA
PERFORMANCE
PROJECTILES
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS