Published 6 issues per year
ISSN Print: 2150-766X
ISSN Online: 2150-7678
Indexed in
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF GRAIN BURNBACK IN SOLID PROPELLANTS
ABSTRACT
A simple method, which had been proposed by the authors to compute grain burnback during the operation of a solid-propellant rocket motor, is revisited. The method uses a fixed grid, which is imposed on the propellant grain. The intersection of the moving solid-gas interface with the grid is tracked and the burning surface is described using straight lines to compute the burning surface area and the port area. The revised version allows a more accurate tracking of the propellant regression than in the original method. The precision of the procedure is greatly increased by recording both the position and inclination of the solid-gas interface with respect to the grid lines, and the grain geometry is described using straight lines and circular arcs. Coarser grids can be used for the same expected error and the corresponding computing time is reduced. Improvements include the capability of handling surface merging and spatially dependent burning rates.