Full-bore simulation for plasma-driven railguns

The authors have embarked on a program to develop a full-bore simulation of the railgun plasma armature. The simulation extends from the back of the projectile to the breech of the railgun, thereby treating explicitly the entire bore. The extent of the armature is unrestricted, and the armature is allowed to grow into the background gas as dictated by physical interactions. This paper documents their progress to date in achieving this full-bore simulation. Most of the activities have focused on formulating the defining equations and boundary conditions, and implementing (and then validating) a numerical technique capable of resolving the steep gradients that they expect to encounter in the simulation.<>