Distribution Characteristics of Electromagnetic Field and Temperature Field of Different Caliber Electromagnetic Railguns

Abstract

To explore the influence of different caliber on the electromagnetic field and temperature field of railguns, an electromagnetic-thermal coupling analysis is carried out on three kinds of caliber railguns by Maxwell 3-D and ANSYS Workbench. The current density and temperature distribution on the contact surface between armature and rails of three kinds of caliber railguns are obtained, respectively. The calculation results show that the maximum current density and temperature of the small and medium caliber railguns appear on the contact surface, but the large caliber railgun appears to the armature throat. As the caliber increases, the current density and temperature on the contact surface have decreased significantly. The maximum current density of medium and large caliber railguns decrease by 13.7% and 35.5% compared with small caliber railgun, and the maximum temperature decrease by 38.8% and 50.1%, respectively. The temperature of the small caliber railgun rises fastest, which is 1.87 and 1.61 times that of the medium and large caliber railguns, respectively. The results can provide an important basis for the design of large caliber electromagnetic railgun.