Solid Propellant Rocket Research

A fundamental study of the non-steady combustion of solid propellants with application to rocket instability is described. A film strip of a metallized solid propellant burning in an oscillating pressure field was analyzed in order to determine the phase relationship between the imposed pressure maxima and an apparent wave of luminosity in the combustion gases. The implications of these observations as they affect the model of the burning propellant are briefly considered. Two types of experimental observation which will be used to study non-steady combustion are outlined. One method involves the measurement of the temperature of the combustion gases downstream from the flame zone. The use of a particle track method for the observation of pressure-velocity relationships in the burnt gases is also considered. (Author).

The paper, Experimental measurements of acoustic erosivity effects on propellant burning rates, by R.C. Strittmater, W.P. Aungst, C.E. Thompson and L.A. Watermeier, is given in its entirety. In addition, condensed versions of the following papers are included: Problems in liquid propellant instability; Liquid instability problems; An experimental study of solid propellant combustion instability in a standing wave tube; Basic physical processes of solid propellant combustion; Shock wave -- burning solid propellant interaction; Acoustic absorption coefficients of the combustion products of aluminized propellants; Further development of 'Stability grading of solid propellants by the oscillatory strand burner test'; An interpretive study of unstable rocket combustion data and method for the simulation of such data; Work at Summerfield Research Station and the University of Sheffield, England; Influence of compositional factors on axial instability; Influence of axial combustion instability on the development of a 23KS20000 motor; Progress in research on combustion instability of solid propellants at the University of Utah; Low frequency acoustic instability studies with double base propellants; Bulk compressibility of solid propellants; Solution of transient vibration problems by separation of variables.

Annotation Since the invention of the V-2 rocket during World War II, combustion instabilities have been recognized as one of the most difficult problems in the development of liquid propellant rocket engines. This book is the first published in the United States on the subject since NASA's Liquid Rocket Combustion Instability (NASA SP-194) in 1972. In this book, experts cover four major subject areas: engine phenomenology and case studies, fundamental mechanisms of combustion instability, combustion instability analysis, and engine and component testing. Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of technical information from Russia and China--a first.

Pressure and velocity coupling effects on combustion stability in solid propellant burning.