Plasma propellant interactions in an electrothermal-chemical gun

dc.contributor.advisorCrowley, A
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, M J
dc.date.accessioned2009-11-24T18:53:08Z
dc.date.available2009-11-24T18:53:08Z
dc.date.issued2009-11-24T18:53:08Z
dc.description.abstractThis Thesis covers work conducted to understand the mechanisms underpinning the operation of the electrothermal-chemical gun. The initial formation of plasma from electrically exploding wires, through to the development of plasma venting from the capillary and interacting with a densely packed energetic propellant bed is included. The prime purpose of the work has been the development and validation of computer codes designed for the predictive modelling of the elect rothe rmal-ch em ical (ETC) gun. Two main discussions in this Thesis are: a proposed electrically insulating vapour barrier located around condensed exploding conductors and the deposition of metallic vapour resulting in a high energy flux to the surface of propellant, leading to propellant ignition. The vapour barrier hypothesis is important in a number of fields where the passage of current through condensed material or through plasma is significant. The importance may arise from the need to disrupt the fragments by applying strong magnetic fields (as in the disruption of metallic shaped charge jets); in the requirement to generate a metallic vapour efficiently from electrically exploding wires (as per ETC ignition systems); or in the necessity to re-use the condensed material after a discharge (as with lightning divertor strips). The ignition by metallic vapour deposition hypothesis relies on the transfer of latent heat during condensation. It is important for the efficient transfer of energy from an exploded wire (or other such metallic vapour generating device) to the surface of energetic material. This flux is obtained far more efficiently through condensation than from radiative energy transfer, because the energy required to evaporate copper is far less than that required to heat it to temperatures at which significant radiative flux would be emitteden_UK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1826/4010
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Environmental and Ordnance Systemsen_UK
dc.subjectExplosives and gun propellantsen_UK
dc.subjectGround-based artillery weaponsen_UK
dc.subjectPropellantsen_UK
dc.subjectEnergetic materialsen_UK
dc.subjectGun dynamicsen_UK
dc.subjectBallistic performanceen_UK
dc.subjectPropellant stabilizersen_UK
dc.subjectVapour depositionen_UK
dc.subjectIgnitionen_UK
dc.titlePlasma propellant interactions in an electrothermal-chemical gunen_UK
dc.typeThesis or dissertationen_UK
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen_UK
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_UK

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