Numerical Simulation on the Pressure Wave in a 30MM Electrothermal-Chemical Gun with the Discharge Rod Plasma Generator

Abstract

In this paper, an axisymmetric two-dimensional interior ballistics model of the solid propellant ETC gun (2D-IB-SPETCG) is used to simulate the 30mm ETC launch. The 2D-IB-SPETCG model includes: pulse forming network (PFN) discharge model [11, 12], DRPG model [13, 14] and 2D two-phase flow model [14, 15]. Depending on simulation results, the electric energy ratio and discharge timing sequences are used to analyze the influence of electric parameters (input electric power, discharging timing sequence) and charging parameters (loading density, propellant web thickness) on the pressure wave. In the ETC launch, the internal ballistic process can be influenced by both the input electric energy of the DRPG and the propellant chemical energy. The electric energy ratio, ηe, is the ratio of the input electric energy to the propellant chemical energy.