Interaction between a high density-low temperature plasma and a frozen hydrogen pellet in a railgun injector

A model has been developed which describes the ablation process of frozen hydrogen pellets in an electromagnetic railgun. The model incorporates the neutral gas shielding model in which the pellet surface is heated by incident electrons from the plasma arc. The heated surface then ablates, forming a neutral cloud which attenuates the incoming electrons. The energy lost in the cloud by the electrons heats the ablatant material as it flows into the plasma arc. Under steady-state conditions, a scaling law for the ablation rate was derived as a function of plasma-arc temperature and density. In addition, flow conditions and the criteria for the existence of a steady-state solution were formulated and subsequently examined under simplifying assumptions. Comparison with experimentally observed ablation rates shows good qualitative agreement