An Acoustic Impedance Model for Evaluating the Ground Effect of Static-Firing Tests on a Rocket Motor

Abstract

The accurate evaluation of the ground reflection effect is of importance for acoustic measurement conducted during static-firing tests of rocket motors. The effectiveness of existing acoustic impedance models was examined by comparing experimental data collected from acoustically hard surfaces. Through these comparisons and the subsequent evaluation of the effect of meteorological conditions, it was confirmed that the existing impedance models are not suitable for the evaluation of long-distance propagation over a hard surface, which corresponds to the far-field conditions in the present static-firing tests of solid rocket motors. A new acoustic impedance model is proposed in this paper. Comparisons of the acoustic measurement data indicated that the new model is effective for both near- and far-field propagation of acoustic waves. The proposed model was applied to acoustic data collected during static-firing tests of solid rocket motors assuming distributed acoustic sources along the exhaust jet axis in order to remove the ground reflection effect.