Ultimate kinematic characteristics of rail electromagnetic launchers with metal armatures in an external magnetic field

This paper presents the results of numerical simulation of the Joule heating of the armature and rails in rail launchers of metal bodies with one or two augmenting rails generating an external magnetic field. The ultimate projectile velocity is calculated under the assumption that the Joule heating of the armature and rails during acceleration does not exceed the melting temperature of the materials of which they are made. It is shown that, with an appropriate choice of the position of the coils generating the augmenting magnetic field with respect to the launcher channel and the current magnitude in them, the heat load on the rails and armature in electromagnetic launchers of solids can be substantially reduced and the ultimate kinematic characteristics of these launchers in crisis-free regimes can be considerably increased.