LAUSR

The shape of a projectile greatly affects its velocity when fired from a coil gun. A magnetic field is generated when the capacitor is discharged and current flows through a solenoid coil, and the magnitude of the resulting magnetic force depends on the projectile shape. A projectile has different amounts of drag depending on its shape. We analyzed the magnetic force and drag coefficient of a coil gun projectile according to its shape. The shape of the projectile was optimally designed to obtain high magnetic force and a small drag coefficient. ANSYS CFD was used to analyze the drag coefficient, and the electromagnetic simulation program Maxwell was used to analyze the magnetic force. The projectile design was optimized carried out using the commercial PIDO tool PIAnO. The optimal projectile was fabricated, and an experiment was conducted to measure the final velocity and verify the performance.