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Science and Technology of Energetic Materials

Vol.71, No.6 (2010)

Research paper

Numerical analysis of solid propellant initial temperature effects on differential pressure fluctuations in propellant chamber(*in Japanese)
Hiroaki Miura, Akiko Matsuo, and Yuichi Nakamura
p.151-157

Abstract

The interior ballistics simulations for AGARD gun condition were carried out using the developed code of the solid / gas two-phase flow model, in order to numerically examine the initial temperature effects of solid propellant on the interior ballistics performances. The variation of the initial temperature of solid propellant leads to changes of the temperature difference between the initial temperature and the ignition temperature of the propellant, and the burning rate coefficient. The two conditions were examined individually in the present numerical analysis, particularly focusing on the fluctuations of differential pressure between the breech and the base. The temperature difference dominated the combustion wave speed, and the burning rate of the solid propellant decided the heat release rate in the burning region. In the ignition process of granular solid propellant, the pressure gradients were formed at the propagating combustion wave front, and the magnitude of the pressure gradient is supposed to depends on both the combustion wave speed and the heat release rate. The pressure gradients propelled forward the propellant grains, and then this movement of the grains caused a significant pressurization at the projectile base wall. The above process generated the strong negative differential pressure. The simulated results showed that the magnitude of the pressure gradient decided the strength of negative differential pressure. Therefore, the two conditions, temperature difference and the burning rate, were significant factors for the generation of negative differential pressure.

> Full text (Open access*)

Keywords

interior ballistics, solid propellant, two-phase flow, propellant initial temperature.

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