A novel simulation approach for electromagnetic gun barrels

An approach to modeling a railgun barrel for performance simulations is discussed that is simple and readily implemented and yet is more representative of actual barrel performance due to electric/thermal effects. This novel, but simple, methodology differs from most of the dynamics equations. Instead, the barrel is discretized into small "cell" sections whose performance parameters vary linearly from one cell to the next. Each cell's electrical/thermal parameters that impact the barrel performance are updated and their effects on the barrel summed in entirety each iteration step; in effect, a distance iteration with a different time increment, which is a funtion of acceleratoin and velocity for each step. This technique allows variations due to materials, resistance, inductance and barrel topology. The simulation also permits a simplified pseudo-two-dimensional analysis to approximate a complicated temporal and spatial heat flow of a rapid-fire scenario. Even though this technique approximates a complex solution, the integrated system simulation executes quickly and has been operated on a personal computer (PC). The numerous advantages and flexibility of this simulation approach are discussed and correlated with other simulations and test data.