Image processing method and morphological feature analysis of muzzle arc in electromagnetic railguns

During the electromagnetic railgun launch process, the generation of muzzle arcs poses a serious threat to rail erosion and system reliability. In this paper, a simulation experimental platform for the muzzle arc of electromagnetic railguns was built. The evolution process of the muzzle arc under different muzzle velocities was observed using high-speed photography. To address the overexposure and multi-connected region features in the arc images, an image processing algorithm based on adaptive thresholding and morphological gradient extraction is proposed. Furthermore, a centroid tracking algorithm using multi-connected region energy fusion was developed to achieve stable localization of the arc centroid. Based on the experimental results, the time-domain evolution of the high-brightness area and the spatial motion patterns of the centroid were quantitatively analyzed. Combined with the synchronously collected muzzle current data, the differences in muzzle arc behavior at different muzzle velocities were analyzed. This study provides an experimental basis and theoretical reference for the analysis of muzzle arcing and motion characteristics in electromagnetic launch systems.