Dynamic Response of a Railgun Barrel by Armature Transient Impact

Abstract

Unlike the effect of conventional artillery projectile on the barrel, the rails are mainly stressed components when a railgun is launching. The rails were stressed with both uniform distribution force and concentrated force associated with the armature moving. And the barrel's stress and strain were calculated with structural mechanics by LS-DYNA. A three-dimensional railgun barrel model for transient armature impact was built to analyze the barrel’s response. The changing law of the armature’s stress during the launching process was obtained. Then the rail’s displacement was employed to describe the barrel's response. The results show that the armature has adaptive adjustment as armature vibrated in the barrel. The rail’s maximum displacement position is lag behind the armature, and has no effect on the contact condition of the rail and armature.