ARTICLE:

• MODELING AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SOLID PROPELLANT COMBUSTION  download article

M. Quinn Brewster
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 140 Mechanical Engineering Building, MC-244, 1206 West Green Street, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA

T. L. Jackson
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets, 2270 Digital Computer Laboratory, MC-278, 1304 West Springfield Avenue, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA

ABSTRACT

Significant advances in the modeling and numerical simulation of solid propellant combustion using simplified kinetics are summarized. For premixed, homogeneous energetic materials (monopropellants), a mathematically rigorous high activation energy condensed-phase decomposition model (high E_c) and low activation energy gas-phase reaction model (low E_g) gives significant improvement in predicting both steady and unsteady combustion. Steady and unsteady combustion response of materials, such as NC/NG, HNF, and HMX, have been successfully modeled to the degree that second derivatives of burning rate with respect to initial temperature and pressure are replicated. For nonpremixed, composite propellants, the laminate propellant configuration has been used to refine modeling assumptions by focusing on the issues of interaction chemistry, nonpremixed flame structure, nonplanar burning surface, and multidimensional heat feedback. A simplified kinetics model has been developed with both premixed and diffusion flame characteristics that successfully simulates observed microscopic behavior, such as diffusion flame shape, leading-edge flame location, and burning surface profile, and macroscopic behavior, such as burning rate. Composite propellant modeling has been able to describe the microscopic, intrinsic unsteadiness associated with these propellants as well as macroscopic trends, such as propellant morphology and pressure on burning rates. The modeling includes an unsteady, three-dimensional, phase-coupled combustion code, a random packing algorithm to construct model propellants, and a homogenization strategy to account for unresolvably small propellant particles.

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65-93 pages

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