Electromechanical coupled nonlinear dynamics of euler beam rails for electromagnetic railgun

Abstract

The electromagnetic field can cause an essential change of the dynamic behavior of the railgun. The evaluation of the dynamics performance of railgun is a mandatory task. Here, a nonlinear electromagnetic force equation of the railgun is given in which the clearance, the thickness and the width of the rail are considered. Based on it, the nonlinear electromechanical coupled dynamics equations of Euler beam rails for the railgun are proposed. Using the equations, the nonlinear free vibration frequency of the railgun is investigated and the effects of the system parameters on the frequency are analyzed. The nonlinear forced responses of the rail to the electromagnetic excitation are investigated as well. The results show that as the nonlinearity of the railgun system is considered, the vibration frequencies of the railgun system increase; as the current in the rail increases, the difference between the natural frequencies and the nonlinear vibration frequencies increases significantly; the nonlinearity of the railgun system is more obvious for smaller distance between the two rails, smaller rail thickness, and smaller stiffness of the elastic foundation; the unstable dynamics state of the rail system occurs when the armature runs to the exit of the railgun. The results are useful for design and application of the railgun system.