Computational Investigation of Unsteady Internal Flow in Solid Propellant Rockets

Authors: Kadir KIRKKÖPRÜ

Abstract: Unsteady flow in a semi-closed axisymmetric cylindrical channel with steady sidewall mass injection that simulates a model of a solid propellant rocket combustion chamber is studied computationally. Planar pressure disturbances prescribed on the open exit plane are the source of the acoustic disturbances in the system. Amplitudes of the oscillatory pressure disturbances are chosen accordingly for different flow Mach numbers, so that nonlinear processes affect the evolution of the unsteady flow. Investigations with the unsteady vortical part of the velocity extracted from the total velocity field show that unsteady vorticity larger than that in the steady flow conditions is generated at the injecting sidewall of the cylinder and that this unsteady vorticity eventually fills the entire chamber.

Keywords: Solid Propellant Rockets, Unsteady Compressible Flows

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