The Investigation Of Characteristics Of Two-phase Flow In Solid Rocket Motor

Metal is often used in the propellant of a solid rocket motor to increase the specific impulse and thrust . So the flow in the combustor and nozzle of a new type of solid rocket motor is characterized by a two-phase flow including Al₂O₃ particles generated by combustion. Firstly, the fundamental theory about internal two-phase flows in solid rocket motor is introduced. And the mathematic model of gas-solid flow is founded. Based upon PC and commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software FLUENT6.2, the internal two-phase flow field and the progress of heat transfer in the solid rocket motor are simulated in this paper. Meanwhile, the particle laden flow around a jet vane device is studied, and the different particle trajectories are computed using discrete phase model of FLUENT. Compared with the correlative literature, the results are obtained as the fundamental information of the vane erosion analysis. In order to make use of the space effectually, the submerged nozzle is installed in the motor universally. The two-phase flow field and particle trajectories in combustor and nozzle have been predicted. From the results of this numerical simulation we could get the information about the interaction between gas and particles, and predict the sediment of particles of different diameters. In addition, in view of the energy of propellants for solid rocket motor, the advantages of utilizing powdered magnesium or aluminum burned with seawater has been investigated by the means of chemical balance constant. It is showed that the new type of solid rocket motor using Mg powders as the propellant can provide larger thrust and prolong the run time of motor than a traditional one.