Transitional ballistics of electric high-velocity launchers

Abstract

The high-velocity launch of a projectile is subjected to a number of disturbances which exert an influence on the flight trajectory. In the case of sub-caliber projectiles, sabot separation is one of the critical aspects. In this work, we focus on the projectiles and the launch package of an electric railgun launch, i.e. on the behavior of the launch-package, when transitioning from the gun barrel to free-flight. This work further addresses the use of a hydrocode for creating numerical models which are capable of predicting the motion and deflection of the sabot parts during their separation from the projectile after exiting the muzzle. An earlier study showed that the air flow around the projectile and the sabot can be modeled with sufficiently high accuracy by means of a simulation code that uses an Eulerian description of the gas flow. Within a time interval of several milliseconds, just the duration that a projectile needs to enter quasi-stationary flight, viscous effects of the air or gas flow have relatively little influence on the sabot discard process. If the Eulerian gas flow is coupled with the Lagrangian structural parts, the mechanical response of the latter to the gas pressure can be complex in terms of deformation and damage, and in that way, can affect the gas flow. In this study, the hydrocode model is applied to a medium caliber launch package concept for accelerating long rod projectiles. The computed results agree well with the corresponding experimental values obtained from a launch package model test in the shock tunnel at Mach 4.5. This demonstrates that the presented hydrocode model can be used for launch package design optimizations with high confidence.