CAD-Based 3D Grain Burnback Analysis for Solid Rocket Motors

Abstract

Propellant grain burnback analysis is crucial for solid rocket motor design and performance prediction. Unlike 2D grain configurations, 3D configurations are complex, hence, simulating their burnback inside the rocket combustion chamber is a tedious and time-consuming process. This study proposes a fast and simple approach for modeling, and evaluating the burning area of 3D propellant grains, based on particular features available in a commercial CAD software. A common 3D Finocyl grain configuration available in the literature has been taken as a test case. The results obtained from the proposed approach were compared with the published experimental data and showed good agreement. The proposed approach can handle any arbitrary complex grain geometry and provide fast and reliable analysis for the preliminary design stage of solid propellant rocket motors.