We describe and present results from GEN2, the second-generation three-dimensional solid rocket motor simulation package developed at CSAR. The internal gas dynamics, propellant combustion, and structural response are fully coupled. In addition to several test cases, we simulate propellant slumping at a joint slot due to uneven gas pressure loads in the Titan IV SRMU. We also study the motion of a flexible inhibitor and its effect on the gas flow near a joint slot in a section of a typical large solid rocket motor.
IntroductionDetailed 3-D simulation of solid rocket motors requires solving a very complex, tightly coupled multiphysics problem that includes a wide range of length and time scales. Obtaining accurate numerical solutions for relatively simple geometries, physical models, and even fairly short burn times, requires enormous computational resources that are available today only at major supercomputing centers. Each physics module (gas dynamics, structural mechanics, etc.) must run efficiently in parallel on many processors and data must be exchanged frequently between modules in order to solve the tightly coupled system.