Theoretical study of turbulent reacting flows in a solid-propellant ducted rocket combustor

A theoretical model has been developed to simulate turbulent mixing and combustion processes in the main combustion chamber of a solid-propellant ducted rocket (SDR). The model employs a two-step chemical reaction scheme with special attention focused on finite-rate kinetics. A well known k-e two-equation model is used for second-order turbulence closure. A semi-implicit finite-difference computer code was implemented to predict the detailed flow structure in SDR combustors. Calculated flow patterns are in good agreement with the preliminary experimental results obtained from the schlieren flow visualization study. The influences of various parameters, including dome height and inlet flow direction, on the propulsive performance of the system are investigated in detail.