ETC research at Soreq NRC, Israel
An overview of the electro-thermal-chemical launcher (ETC) research program at the Propulsion Physics Laboratory, Soreq NRC, Israel is presented. The main avenue explored is a detailed study of solid propellant ETC (SPETC) performance and optimization. A better knowledge of the physical phenomena taking place inside the device and in parallel efforts to tackle the engineering aspects of specific weapon systems based on the SPETC concept. Theoretical and experimental tools have been developed. Permanent efforts towards developing optimal and efficient components for such systems are invested. A second avenue is the design and the construction of a small caliber ETC demonstrator, as an answer for present military demands for urban combat conditions. All system options are dealt with including a novel inductive pulse power supply.
Plasma propagation and ignition of propellant in the chamber of a SPETC gun
The propagation of plasma and the spatial properties of the ignition process, in the chamber of a solid propellant electrothermal-chemical (SPETC) gun, are studied experimentally for discharge powers between 100 MW and 300 MW. The plasma was found to fill the entire chamber volume in approximately 1 msec. The measured axial and radial plasma propagation velocities were in the range of 1000-2000 m/s and 100-500 m/s, respectively. The ignition was found to be more intensive in the central chamber region and towards the breech. The obtained results are used for modeling the plasma injection in interior ballistic codes.
Cylindricity of ablation-controlled arcs
A rigorous calculation of ablation-controlled arcs in cylindrical tubes that can reproduce a noncylindrical arc boundary correctly is presented. Earlier workers on the subject implicitly assumed nearly cylindrical arcs. The more rigorous results presented a posteriori justify those simplifications. A complete scan of sonic solutions is presented. >