Transient combustion responses of solid propellants to acoustic disturbances in rocket motors

Numerical calculations have been conducted for the study of interactions between acoustic waves and the combustion of a double-base propellant in a rocket motor. The complete conservation equations are used as governing equations which account for the finite chemical kinetics and variable properties for the gas phase. The energy equation is considered for the condensed phase since thermophysical properties of the solid propellant are assumed to be constant, Combustion response function is used to verify the numerical method adopted by this work. One dimensional calculations with forced pressure oscillations show reasonably good agreement with experimental data. The gas-phase calculations combined with the condensed phase solutions in two-dimensional motor environments reveal various aspects of solid propellant combustion responses, such as characteristics of acoustic oscillations and transient combustion responses to pressure oscillations.