Studies on Ignition Delay and Flame Spread in High-Performance Solid Rocket Motors

Accurate prediction of ignition delay and flame spread rate in solid propellant rocket motors is of great topical interest. In this paper using a standard k-ω turbulence model numerical studies have been carried out to examine the influence of solid rockets port geometry on ignition delay and the flame spread pattern. We observed that with the same inflow conditions and propellant properties heat flux histories and ignition time sequence are different for different port geometries. We conjectured from the numerical results that in solid rocket motors with highly loaded propellants, mass flux of the hot gases moving past the burning surface is large. Under these conditions, the convective flux to the surface of the propellant will be enhanced, which in turn enhance the local Reynolds number. This amounts a reduction in heat transfer film thickness and enhanced heat transfer to the propellant with consequent enhancement in the dynamic burn rate resulting the undesirable starting pressure transient. We concluded that, the more accurate description of gas phase to surface heat transfer process will give a better prediction and control of ignition delay and flame spread rate in solid propellant rockets.