Modelling of a parallel augmented railgun with pspice validation of the model and optimization of the augmenting circuit

Experiments with LARA, a 15 mm caliber parallel augmented railgun at the French-German Research Institute ISL, have shown that the augmenting circuit of this railgun was not efficient. In order to minimize the energy losses in the augmenting circuit of this railgun, a PSSpice model was developed. This model combines an electrical model of the pulse forming network and the rails with a model of the kinematics of the projectile. For the experimental validation of the model we compared the results of the simulations with the results of the experimental study on LARA. For the optimization of the augmenting circuit in order to minimize the energy losses, three different configurations for the outer rails were compared. The first configuration was a parallel augmented railgun with outer rails in one piece and all power supplies connected to the breech. The influence of the length of the outer rails was examined. The second configuration we have studied was a parallel augmented railgun with segmented outer rails. In this case separate power supplies were connected at the beginning of each segment. The last configuration we examined was a DES railgun. The outer rails of this railgun are both in one piece as in the first configuration, but two current injection points are divided over the length of the rails.