Evaluation of friction due to deformed behaviour of rail in the electromagnetic railgun: numerical investigation

Rail guns have the potential to accelerate the pro-jectiles up to velocities of 7 km/s and their great technical applications can be expected during next decade. The ac-celerations needed to attain these velocities, however, de-mand high currents generating high magnetic fields and very large Lorentz forces acting on the projectile. The gun is composed of two rails, the projectile and an energy source closed to the electric circuit. The rails guide the projectile and provide current to the brush in the projectile [1-5]. The basic construction of the rail gun is illustrated in Fig. 1. Enormous current densities, heat generation, high velocities and friction forces coupled with the dynamical interaction at the rail surface present a great challenge to all scientists working in this interdisciplinary research area.