Modelling and Simulation of a Railgun powered by a Capacitor Bank

Abstract

A railgun powered by a capacitor bank was developed to launch hypervelocity projectiles. The efficiency of the gun to a large extent will determine its feasibility for weapon applications. A simulation code was developed to predict the performance of the railgun. The railgun has been modelled as a time-varying impedance to determine the currents and the voltages from the power source. In the railgun circuit the currents and the voltages are of the order of hundreds of kiloamperes. Even very low impedances of the order of milli-ohm and micro-henry are substantial sources of energy losses. The measured and simulation currents at peak values agree with in 10%, validating the model. The simulation code accurately predicts the energy distribution in the system. Maximization of the projectile energy leads to improved and efficient designs. The simulation also leads to the optimized launcher pressure and payload velocity.