75 m/s simulation and experiment of two-stage reluctance coilgun

Magnetic launchers are divided into three main techniques, with one of them being the reluctance coilgun. The projectile in this method is rather simple and the obtained velocity is relatively low, which is its main disadvantage. Also, theoretical simulations for high velocity usually predict much higher velocities than that of the experiments. The aim of this work is to demonstrate an accurate simulation of a two-stage coilgun and show experimental validation of high launching velocity. A two-stage coilgun was designed and optimized by numerical simulations. Accordingly, it was implemented and tested experimentally. As an outcome, the highest reported velocity of 75 m/s was obtained both in the simulation and experiment. This outcome contributes to the understanding that adding stages can increase the launching velocity by carefull implementation of the initial position of the projectile, together with proper timing of the second stage. It is concluded that with this approach a multi-stage coilgun can reach even higher velocity.