Three-Dimensional Simulation of the Erosion in Solid Armatures

To study the erosion process in solid armatures during the electromagnetic (EM) launching, this paper constructs the physical model for the launching process and performs three-dimensional simulations. In the model, the Joule heating effect is taken as the volume heat source, while the heating effect due to the contact resistance and friction is considered as the thermal boundary condition on the contact interface between the rail and the armature. The contact problem between rail and armature is resolved at first to obtain a deformed rail-armature structure with a reasonable contact region under the effect of geometric interference and electromagnetic force. Based on this deformed structure, the simulation of the armature erosion is performed. It is found that the erosion in armature initiates from the sides of the leading edge of the contact region, and proceeds towards the center and the trailing edge. The armature erosion obtained by the simulation has similar distribution features to experimental results. The three-dimensional simulation study on the armature erosion conducted in this paper is hence validated.