Development and validation of a railgun hydrogen pellet injector model

A railgun hydrogen pellet injector model is presented and its predictions are compared with the experimental data. High-speed hydrogenic ice injection is the dominant refueling method for magnetically confined plasmas used in controlled thermonuclear fusion research. As experimental devices approach the scale of power-producing fusion reactors, the fueling requirements become increasingly more difficult to meet since, due to the large size and the high electron densities and temperatures of the plasma, hypervelocity pellets of a substantial size will need to be injected into the plasma continuously and at high repetition rates. Advanced technologies, such as the railgun pellet injector, are being developed to address this demand. Despite the apparent potential of electromagnetic launchers to produce hypervelocity projectiles, physical effects that were neither anticipated nor well understood have made it difficult to realize this potential. Therefore, it is essential to understand not only the theory behind railgun operation, but the primary loss mechanisms, as well. Analytic tools have been used by many researchers to design and optimize railguns and analyze their performance. This has led to a greater understanding of railgun behavior and opened the door for further improvement. A railgun hydrogen pellet injector model has been developed. The model is based upon a pellet equation of motion that accounts for the dominant loss mechanisms, inertial and viscous drag. The model has been validated using railgun pellet injectors developed by the Fusion Technology Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hydrogen pellet accelerations predicted by the model have been compared with experimental data and found to be in good agreement over a broad range of operating parameters. Therefore, the model may, in fact, be useful in determining optimal railgun operating parameters. For example, the model suggests that, depending on the rail and insulator materials used, there exists a point of diminishing returns. Namely, for a given rail current, there is an acceleration time beyond which little or no increase in pellet speed is produced. The model has been used to compute optimal acceleration times for various rail currents.