Effect of Rail Dimensions on Rail Gun Design Parameters

The purpose of modeling the rail gun is to provide a theoretical understanding of how the design parameters of rail gun such as magnetic flux density between the rails, maximum current density over the rail cross section, repulsive force acting on the rail, and inductance gradient of the rail react under different conditions like the boundary conditions and variation in dimensions. Finite element analysis technique is employed to calculate the rail gun design parameters using two-dimensional analysis. The rail gun design parameters mainly depend on rails and armature, geometry and dimensions. This paper investigates how the rail dimensions affect the rail gun design parameters using finite element technique.