The ET-launcher operation with mass supply and distributed heat sources

To determine ways to increase the efficiency of ET-launchers, theoretical investigations and numerical modelling of the acceleration regimes were carried out. The distributed energy supply and mass supply due to the erosion of a special ablator and partial projectile evaporation were considered. The launching system consists of the high pressure chamber and working channel. Using Pontryagin´s maximum principle, the methods of energy and mass supply optimization are shown. The optimal process control consists of a series of heat pulses of maximum power divided by intervals with no energy supply or with the intermediate values of the heat input if the regime is singular. In the paper the regimes when heat and mass are supplied into the working channel simultaneously are analyzed and simulated. The heat and mass source distribution, their intensities and the channel length are optimizing parameters. Using the optimum values of the combined energy and mass supply it is possible to raise the projectile kinetic energy significantly.<>