Experimental system and numerical simulation of 3-stage reconnection electromagnetic launch

In order to reveal the kinetic properties of projectile in multi-stage reconnection electromagnetic launch, a small-scale 3-stage reconnection electromagnetic launch system was designed and built for experimental research and simulation. The operation mechanism and kinetic model were introduced. A small-scale 3-stage reconnection electromagnetic launch system was designed and built for experimental research. The system consists of three same subsystems and a central control system. Based on the data measured from the experimental model, inductance gradient and other electrical parameters were acquired by curve fitting and computation, thus the kinetic model was set up for simulated Calculations. The kinetic properties were obtained by solving the model's circuit equation and motion equation with four-order Runge-Kutta method. The results show that the accelerating is completed within the initial short time and short distance after the capacitor bank discharges to the coil when the velocity of projectile is low. The effect of accelerating depends on a proper initial position of the projectile. Both the final velocity of projectile and the overall launch efficiency rise with the increased stored energy of capacitor banks. The efficiency of each stage rises in sequence during a multi-stage launch and the latter stage has a higher efficiency than the anterior one.