The research work proposed herein addresses and emphasizes a design methodology to design and optimize Finocyl Grain configurations considering particular test case for which the Average thrust and constraints have been given. A parametric solid model of the grain has been developed which enables automatic volume calculation of the grain void and solid propellant at each web increment thereafter burning area has been calculated. The motor performance is calculated using a simplified ballistic model, steady state pressure is calculated by equating mass generated in chamber to mass ejected through nozzle throat. Genetic algorithm has been employed for conducting optimization thereby achieving the design and performance objectives while adhering to design constraints. Latin hypercube sampling is used for better design space exploration and thus creating initial population to decrease computation time. Sensitivity Analysis of the optimized solution has been conducted using Monte Carlo method to evaluate the effects of uncertainties in design parameters caused by manufacturing variations.

Purpose The capability to predict and evaluate the motor pressure during each phase by means of a numerical analysis can significantly increase the efficiency of the preliminary design process with a reduction of both the motor development and operational costs. This paper aims to perform numerical simulation to analyze the ignition transient in solid rocket motor by solving Euler equation coupled with some semi-empirical correlations. These relations take into account the main phenomena affecting the ignition transient. Coupling relationships include the heat transfer of the gas to the propellant and erosive burning rate relationship. Design/methodology/approach The current research effort divides motor into series of control volumes along the port axis, and the variation of port area, burning surface and burning rate along the port are taken into account. A set of governing equations are then solved using explicit, time-dependent, predictor-corrector finite difference method. The numerical model helps to capture and embed shock wave associated with igniter flow within the solution. Second-order artificial viscosity dampens out the numerical oscillations due to sharp gradient within the flow field. The developed computer code predicts the start-up characteristics of motor. The study also provides comparison of simulation results with in-house experimental motor. Findings Simulations are performed with and without erosive burning to demonstrate that the flow model is a good physical approximation of motor. Numerical results calculated by this model without erosive burning are not in good agreement with experimental results. This minor discrepancy has motivated the inclusion of erosive burning in numerical model. The simulated results are then compared with the experimental data for head-end and rear-end pressure. The agreement between simulation and experiment is remarkable. In summary, major finding of this study is that unsteady quasi-one-dimensional gas dynamic model can capture the flow field in the motor during ignition transient effectively. Research limitations/implications Unsteady quasi-one-dimensional gas dynamic model can capture the flow field in the motor during ignition transient effectively. However, in systems where two- and three-dimensional effects are pre-dominant, one would require to develop a more elaborate, multi-dimensional model which will allow for further understanding of the flow behavior and eventually lead to modeling of rocket motors with more complex geometries. Practical implications The close agreement between experimental and simulation results can be considered as forced to some degree, because the general mathematical model of erosive burning contains a free variable erosive burning exponent. However, in future, this variable can be established a priori by erosive burning tests. Originality/value The solid propellant ignition process consists of series of rapid events and must be completed in a fraction of a second. An understanding of the dynamics of ignition has become increasingly vital with the development of larger and more sophisticated solid propellant rocket motors. This research effort provides the simulation framework to predict and evaluate the motor pressure during each phase by means of a numerical analysis, thus significantly increasing the efficiency of the preliminary design process with a reduction of both the motor development and operational costs.

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