Modeling of the Gyroscopic Stabilization in a Traveling-Wave Multipole Field Electromagnetic Launcher via an Analytical Approach

This paper presents an analytical model for the investigation of the gyroscopic stabilization of the launch package in induction-type coilguns. By a proper arrangement of coils and of their feeding currents, a traveling wave of flux density is produced, which is characterized by axial and azimuthal components of velocity. The resulting action exerted on a conductive cylinder has components in the same directions as the traveling wave. This produces a helical motion of the armature. Since the governing vector field equation is not separable in the cylindrical coordinate, an approach based on the second-order vector potential formulation has been adopted here.