NUMERICAL SIMULATION ASSESSMENT OF EROSIVE BURNING IN SOLID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINES

Abstract

Erosive burning is a critical phenomenon affecting the performance and reliability of rocket motors, particularly those utilizing solid propellants. In erosive burning, the combustion rate of solid propellants increases due to high-velocity gas flow along the propellant surface. This occurs predominantly in motors with narrow or complex grain geometries, where the increased shear stress and enhanced heat transfer from the gas flow accelerates the burn rate beyond what is expected in static conditions. This paper aims to evaluate the influence of erosive phenomena that occur in the rocket motor, in the case of a narrow port grain solid propellant, using numerical simulation as a means of investigation. Starting from a given configuration, the operation cycle of the solid-fuel rocket motor is simulated, beginning with the ignition phase and continuing until the complete combustion of the propellant. The simulation is conducted in two cases, without and with considering the effect of erosion. This allows for the obtaining the pressure, temperature, velocity fields and variation of pressure at the nozzle inlet, which are compared in both cases. Additionally, comparisons with experimental results obtained for the same configuration are made. The numerical simulation is performed using the FLUENT program, with input data obtained through thermochemical calculations.