Muzzle Voltage Characteristics of Railguns

Muzzle voltage is an essential diagnostic tool used in both contact resistance modeling and transition determination. However, it is challenging to stem the necessary meanings from the collected measurements. However, these measurements should be decomposed to deliver meaningful data. Thus, in this study the muzzle voltage is decomposed into three subsections, each of them calculated with proper models. The modeling strategies are discussed to understand the transition mechanism better. Some parameters which affect muzzle voltage is calculated with the 3-D Finite Element Method (FEM), i.e., rail mutual inductance. A few experiments are shared with investigating different scenarios. The constructed model shows promising results in the first two regions, but the transition starting point is still unclear. However, the study offers some physical understandings of muzzle voltage, a clear literature review, and explanations for the conflicts with previous studies.