TRANSIENT FIELD MODELING AND MODEL VERIFICATION FOR AN UNDERSEA ELECTROMAGNETIC LAUNCHER

THE PROPOSED UNDERSEA MAGNETIC LAUNCHER COULD PROVIDE BENEFIT TO THE NAVY. BUT THE MODERN TORPEDO AND THE AREA ADJACENT TO THE TORPEDO TUBES IS JAMMED WITH DIGITAL ELECTRONICS INCLUDING MICROPROCESSORS. IF THE SHOOTING OFF OF THE TORPEDO SHOULD CAUSE A MEMOR LOCATION TO CHANGE STATE THE MISSION OF THE TORPEDO COULD BE ABORTED, OR IN THE WORST CASE, THE SHIP ITSELF COULD BE PUT IN JEOPARDY. THE DESIGN OF THE LAUNCHER THEREFORE MUST BE SUCH THAT THE TRANSIENT INDUCED VOLTAGE IN ADJACENT ELECTRONICS DOES NOT EXCEED A FRACTION OF A VOLT, NOT LIKELY IF THE RATE OF CHANGE OF AXIAL FLUX DENSITY IS LESS THAN 2.5 TESLA/SEC. A UNIQUE MAGNETODYNAMIC MODEL FOR AXISYMMETRIC GEOMETRY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY ELECTROIMPACT, INC. AND IS CAPABLE OF ACCURATELY PREDICTING THE RESULTING FIELD STRENGTHS. THE OVERALL GEOMETRY CAN BE FLEXIBLY ARRANGED AND ALTERED SINCE THE MODEL EMPLOYS A GENERALIZED SOLUTION FOR THE MUTUAL COUPLING OF CONCENTRIC CURRENT LOOPS. THE MODEL WILL BE SUPPLIED WITH CONVENIENT MENU DRIVEN INTERFACE FOR PARAMETER AND GEOMETRY CHANGES, AND SUPPLIED FOR USE BY THE NAVY. MODEL VERIFICATION TESTING WILL BE PERFORMED WITH EQUIPMENT PRESENTLY IN HOUSE. AFTER VERIFICATION TESTING THE MODEL WILL BE RUN FOR A RANGE OF PARAMETERS SPECIFIED BY THE SPONSORS SO THAT THE FINAL REPORT SERVES AS A CONVENIENT LAUNCHER DESIGN REFERENCE.