Prospects of use of electromagnetic railgun as plasma thruster for spacecrafts

Poniaev, S. A.; Reznikov, B. I.; Kurakin, R. O.; Попов, П. А.; Sedov, A.I.; Shustrov, Y. A.; Zhukov, B. G.

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.12.035

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

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“…Pulse capillary discharge is one of the relatively simple methods for producing plasma [1,2]. It is well known that this type of discharge is characterized by a long, fairly stable plasma structure of the pulsed jet in the atmosphere.…”

Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mathematical Modeling of Plasma Dynamics for Processes in Capillary Discharges

Kuzenov¹,

Ryzhkov²

2019

Nelin. Dinam.

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A statement of the problem is presented and numerical modeling of plasma-gas-dynamic processes in the capillary discharge plume is performed. In the developed model, plasma dynamic processes in a capillary discharge are determined by the intensity, duration of plasma formation processes in the capillary discharge channel, and thermodynamic parameters in the surrounding gaseous medium. The spatial distribution of temperature, density and pressure, radial and longitudinal velocities of pulsed jets of several capillary discharge channels is presented. RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF NONLINEAR DYNAMICS, 2019, 15(4), 543-550 544 V. V. Kuzenov, S. V. Ryzhkov structures (which form near the boundary of a pulsed jet) and a capillary discharge torch in the air atmosphere.When carrying out these calculations, the capillary discharge channel was not considered, and the gas-dynamic parameters flowing into the flooded space of the pulsed plasma jet were estimated as follows. In a first approximation, the mathematical model of plasmodynamic processes inside a channel of a capillary discharge can be constructed from the condition that the energy deposited from a capacitive storage is emitted by an optically dense plasma, and all electrical energy is transferred to the thermal energy of the plasma, which expires with sound velocity through a section of a capillary discharge.Plasma-dynamic processes occurring in a plasma torch of a capillary discharge can be determined using the system of equations of viscous two-temperature radiation plasma dynamics. The numerical method for the equations of plasma dynamics is based on the method of fractional steps. The numerical solution is also described in [3,4].

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Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mathematical Modeling of Plasma Dynamics for Processes in Capillary Discharges

Kuzenov¹,

Ryzhkov²

2019

Nelin. Dinam.

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Infiltrated tungsten-copper composite reinforced with short tungsten fibers

Zhuo

Luo

Zhao

et al. 2020

Vacuum

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Modular electromagnetic railgun accelerator for high velocity impact studies

Verma

Aravind

Deb

et al. 2022

Review of Scientific Instruments

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A modular electromagnetic railgun accelerator facility named “RAFTAR” (i.e., Railgun Accelerator Facility for Technology and Research) has been commissioned and its performance has been characterized for high velocity impact testing on materials in a single-shot mode. In the first tests, RAFTAR demonstrated an acceleration of more than 1000 m/s for an 8 g solid aluminum-7075 armature projectile. The current fed was 220 kA, having a muzzle time of about 1.75 ms. It is a single pulse breech-fed rectangular bore (14 × 13 mm2) railgun, and its 1.15 m long barrel assembly consists of two parallel copper bars with an inter-gap of 13 mm that are encased within 50 mm thick high strength reinforced fiberglass sheets (Garolite G10-FR4) and bolted from both the sides. RAFTAR is powered by two capacitor bank modules that have a maximum stored energy of 160 kJ each (containing eight 178 μF/15 kV capacitors), two high power ignitron switches, and a pulse shaping inductor. To obtain consistent acceleration of the armature inside the barrel, reversal of driving current is prevented, and its pulse duration is stretched by tactical integration of the crowbar switch and bitter coil inductor in the circuit. Armature projectile velocity measurement in-bore and outside in free space was performed by the time-of-flight technique using indigenously made miniature B-dot sensors and a novel shorting-foil arrangement, respectively. The time resolved measurement of the in-bore armature evidenced a velocity-skin-effect in the high acceleration phase. There is good agreement between the experimentally measured and theoretically predicted efficiency, confirming the optimal choice of operating parameters. The conclusion summarizes important experimental findings and analyzes the underlying causes that limit the performance of railguns.

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Prospects of use of electromagnetic railgun as plasma thruster for spacecrafts

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

Mathematical Modeling of Plasma Dynamics for Processes in Capillary Discharges

Mathematical Modeling of Plasma Dynamics for Processes in Capillary Discharges

Infiltrated tungsten-copper composite reinforced with short tungsten fibers

Modular electromagnetic railgun accelerator for high velocity impact studies

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