Electrothermally generated gasdynamic pressure pulses for mass acceleration

Abstract

Gasdynamic pressure pulses for mass acceleration take energy from a reservoir of compressed gas. It is the goal of going experiments to demonstrate that masses can be accelerated to high velocities by using pressure pulses generated by arc heating of liquids in an extended breech volume of a Plasma-PulseAccelerator.The paper discusses the basic concept of this acceleration method and gives experimental results obtained so far. The extended breech volume used as an accumulator is charged by arc heating. Reaching a certain pressure value, a shear plate tears off starting the acceleration process. The experimental set-up allows the generation of information on phenomena influencing the charging and the acceleration processes.