Turbulent Flow Analysis of Erosive Burning of Cylindrical Composite Solid Propellants

Abstract

An axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer was analyzed in order to investigate erosive burning in composite solid-propellant rocket motors. It was found that there is a strong interaction between the core flow acceleration and turbulence level in the boundary layer. The increase of turbulence near the surface of the propellant plays an important role in the erosive burning mechanism. Reducing the port diameter makes a rocket motor more sensitive to erosive burning. When the port diameter is uniform, the erosive burning rate increases toward the aft end of the rocket motor. This trend is less pronounced or even reversed when the port diameter is divergent.