Assessment on Analysis and Prediction Method Applied on Thrust Oscillation of Ariane 5 Solid Rocket boosters

Analysis of Pressure Oscillations during Ignition Transient and Steady-State of an Overloaded VEGA First Stage

“…The purpose is to develop an Aerodynamically Generated Acoustic Resonance model (in the spirit of the models presented in the past for the analysis of the aeroacoustic phenomena in Ref. [7,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]) of the pressure oscillations phenomena in SRMs, more detailed than the typical Rossiter 30 and/or Strouhal analyses (that are only an a-posteriori reconstruction of the SRM aeroacoustic phenomena, without an estimation of the pressure oscillations amplitude), but in the meantime, more useful, at a system level, than full 3D numerical simulations [31][32][33][34][35] , for the evaluation of the thrust oscillations and the acceleration environment brought about in the SRM, because of the pressure oscillations onset.…”

Solid propulsion for space applications: An updated roadmap

“…An excellent example of this process is research on thrust oscillations observed during the second half of the P230 motor's (Ariane-5's booster) burn. This research employed detailed numerical simulations to clarify the role of vortex shedding from inhibitors, the propellant grain's edges, and the burning surface, on the acoustic pressure [38,41,42,45,47,48] in concert with cold flow experiments with adequate diagnostics, and well instrumented scale motor tests.…”

“…• Multi-disperse, multi-phase flow simulations that include aluminum/alumina droplets [31][32][33], aluminum agglomeration [31,[34][35][36], and the slag mass accumulation [37]. • Simulation of vortex-shedding [38] and thrust oscillation [39] with the view point of the adaptive control [40], of the effect of burning aluminum droplets [41], of the nozzle cavity effect [42], of the wall and the inhibitor effect [43,44], and of the large solid rocket boosters [45][46][47][48][49]. • Simulation of the internal flow with respect to the nozzle ablation [50][51][52] and to the roll-torque generation [53].…”

Advanced Computer Science on Internal Ballistics of Solid Rocket Motors

“…In order to improve the reliability of SRMs, it is important to establish the accuracy of numerical simulation with progress of model refinement of each physical phenomenon checking with real firing results. One of good examples of such establishment is a bunch of researches on thrust oscillation problems observed during the second half of the burning period of P230 motor, the booster of Ariane-5, and numerical simulations have been applied to clarify the role of vortex shedding from obstructs like inhibitors, from propellant grain edges, and from combustion surfaces, on acoustic pressure growth 20,23,24,27,29,30) . Another example is the lessons learned from the failure of nozzle-liner due to localized ablation (erosion) of a solid rocket booster (SRB-A) of the Japanese H-IIA launch vehicle 40) .…”

“…Researches of numerical simulation of SRM have covered a variety of aspects, such as, SRM internal ballistics evaluation by burn-back simulation 1,2) , also with casting process effect 3,4) modeling and simulation of the random packing 5) and of the combustion of heterogeneous solid propellants [6][7][8][9][10] with aluminum agglomeration modeling [11][12][13][14] multi-dispersed multi-phase flow simulation including aluminum/alumina droplets 11,15,16) , model of aluminum agglomeration 17,18) , and simulation of slag mass accumulation of condensed phase 19) simulation of vortex-shedding 20) and thrust oscillation 21) with view points of adaptive control 22) of effect of burning aluminum droplets 23) , of nozzle cavity effect 24) , of wall and inhibitor effect 25,26) , and of large solid rocket boosters [27][28][29][30][31] simulation of internal flow with respect to nozzle ablation [32][33][34] and to roll-torque generation 35) simulation of combustion stability 36) assessment of acoustic, vibration, and shock environments of SRM firings 37) , assessments of attenuation of radio frequency signal due to the SRM plume 38,39) , and so on. In order to improve the reliability of SRMs, it is important to establish the accuracy of numerical simulation with progress of model refinement of each physical phenomenon checking with real firing results.…”