Effect of the shape of metal solids on the rate of their Joule heating in electromagnetic rail launchers

This paper presents a method and results of numerical simulations of current-density, magnetic-field, and temperature distributions in rail launchers of conducting solids for armatures of various shapes. A comparison is made of the results of calculations using two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. It is shown that for cylindrical and saddle-shaped armatures, Joule heating calculations performed by two-dimensional simulation of electromagnetic and thermal phenomena are in good agreement with calculations for the three-dimensional model.