Performance Analysis and Parameter Optimization of CPPS-Based Electromagnetic Railgun System

A fast solving method for the launching process of the electromagnetic railgun and an automatic assignment method for the trigger strategy of the capacitive pulsed power supply (CPPS) are proposed. The accuracy of the solving method and the feasibility of the assignment method are verified through an illustrative example with a 1.8-MJ initially stored energy. On the basis of these methods, parameter optimization in design phase and performance analysis in operation phase are conducted around the projectile muzzle kinetic energy E-k and the system energy transfer efficiency eta. To be specific, the single-objective optimal solutions of E-k and eta and the biobjective Pareto front of E-k-eta are acquired by evolutionary computation. And the influence relations of certain system parameters on E-k and eta are acquired by parameter sweep. The research methods and results in this paper have both theoretical and pragmatic values in improving the performance of the CPPS-based electromagnetic railgun system.