Aerothermodynamics analysis of the electromagnetically launched projectiles under rarefied gas conditions

Abstract

EML projectiles fly with hypersonic speeds in different regions of the Earth's atmosphere. Because of these hypersonic speeds, EML projectiles are designed to withstand extreme thermal loads. To reduce the thermal loads, the geometric shape of these projectiles should be carefully designed. We can utilize either experimental or numerical methods to calculate these thermal loads. Numerical methods are more economic in terms of monetary cost and time. However, we can not use the same numerical method in different regions of the Earth's atmosphere. In this work we used DSMC method to calculate thermal loads of four different projectile geometries in the rarefied part of the atmosphere. Simulation results show that thermal loads vary considerably depending on the projectile geometry.