Virtual prototyping of solid propellant rockets

Abstract

Researchers seek a detailed, whole-system simulation of solid propellant rockets under normal and abnormal operating conditions. A virtual prototyping tool for solid propellant rocket motors based on first principles models of rocket components and their dynamic interactions meets this goal. Given a design specification (geometry, materials, and so on), we hope to predict the entire system's resulting collective behavior with sufficient fidelity to determine both nominal performance characteristics and potential weaknesses or failures. Such a response tool could explore the space of design parameters much more quickly, cheaply, and safely than traditional build-and-test methods. The article is a progress report on a project to design such a virtual prototyping tool for SRMs (solid rocket motors).