Simulation of a Railgun: A Contribution to the Validation of the Electromagnetism Module in LS-DYNA v980

A railgun is an electrical gun using electromagnetic forces in order to accelerate and launch projectiles at several times the speed of sound. Railguns have long belonged to the science-fiction world or existed as experimental and demonstrator technology. However in recent years, the U.S Navy has shown an increased interest for Railguns as they offer the potential for reduced logistics and firing power. The purpose of this paper is to simulate a railgun model using the Electromagnetism solver in LS-DYNA, to compare results with existing analytical models and to show how LS-DYNA may help to improve such existing models.