Abstract
The ability to understand and predict the expected internal behaviour of a given solid-propellant rocket motor under transient conditions is important. Research towards predicting and quantifying undesirable transient axial combustion instability symptoms necessitates a comprehensive numerical model for internal ballistic simulation under dynamic flow and combustion conditions. A numerical model incorporating pertinent elements, such as a representative transient, frequency-dependent combustion response to pressure wave activity above the burning propellant surface, is applied to the investigation of scale effects (motor size, i.e., grain length and internal port diameter) on influencing instability-related behaviour in a cylindrical-grain motor. The results of this investigation reveal that the motor’s size has a significant influence on transient pressure wave magnitude and structure, and on the appearance and magnitude of an associated base pressure rise.
Highlights
With respect to the internal ballistics of solid-propellant rocket motors (SRMs), one ideally should be able to understand the behaviour of a given motor under transient conditions, i.e., beyond what would be considered quasi-steady or quasi-equilibrium conditions
On the numerical prediction side, as various component models evolve, say for transient burning rate or structural vibration, their incorporation into an overall internal ballistics simulation program allows for new motor firing simulations to take place, which in turn allows for updated comparisons to available experimental firing data, and a better understanding of the influence of various factors
Pd = 2 atm; = 400 μm), acceleration nullified; (b) Predicted pressure wave profile. The implications of such factors as motor size on nonlinear axial combustion instability symptom development have been demonstrated by the example numerical simulation results presented in this study of cylindrical-grain solid rocket motors
Summary
With respect to the internal ballistics of solid-propellant rocket motors (SRMs), one ideally should be able to understand the behaviour of a given motor under transient conditions, i.e., beyond what would be considered quasi-steady or quasi-equilibrium conditions. Over the last number of decades, there has been a number of research efforts directed towards a better understanding of the physical mechanisms, or at least the surrounding factors, behind the appearance of transient symptoms associated with nonlinear axial combustion instability in SRMs; see [1,2]. The motivation for these studies was and is to bring this better understanding to bear in more precisely suppressing, if not eliminating, these symptoms. Example results are presented in this paper in order to provide the reader with some background on the sensitivities of motor size, as relates to cylindrical-grain SRMs
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