The multi-stage railgun

In this paper a new railgun configuration in order to reduce the effects of ablation is proposed. The railgun is segmented into several stages that are separated by an insulating material. Each stage has its own feeding circuit and an auxiliary rail launcher to create and accelerate at the proper velocity a plasma arc. The first stage is fired initially; firing of further stages is operated synchronously with the position and the velocity of the pellet. The rail portion consisting of insulating material between two adjacent stages is used to extinguish the plasma arc from the previous one. If the next stage is properly fired, the pellet is driven by a new plasma arc whose thermodynamic quantities have better characteristics than those of the extinguished one. The analysis of the performance of the multistage railgun has been carried out considering different number of stages and of pellet masses. The characteristic quantities of the plasma arc are schematised by means of a one-dimensional model.