Thermal analysis of insulators in electromagnetic launcher system

During the electromagnetic launching process, the supporting insulators suffer from the complicated environments. Under the action of strong pulse stress, high temperature, arc and other factors, it will directly lead to insulation failure and performance degradation in electromagnetic launcher system. Therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of insulators under high temperature condition in order to improve electromagnetic launchers performance and prolong lifetime. The purpose of this study is to obtain temperature distribution of the rails and insulators. In this paper, we mainly investigate the two dimensional transient model by the method of finite element analysis. Combining Maxwell equations with thermal diffusion equation, we can make numerical simulations to study the temperature distribution of rails and insulators. The software COMSOL is a good method of solving multiple physics field coupling problems. Results obtained as loads were used for analysis of thermal stress within the supporting insulators. In general, the maximum temperature region within insulators is concentrated at contact surface. If the insulators are subjected to high temperature for a long time, it will cause performance degradation and insulation failure. This work will provide a basis for further research on insulation failure during the electromagnetic launching process.