Solid propellant rocket nozzle erosion

By:S.Rup Kumar (09D41A2101) K.Saraswathi (09D41A2144) M.Shefali (09D41A2140)

ABSTRACT
In this project we are predicting the characteristics

of graphite nozzle throat erosion of a solid propellant rocket and developing a minimization code for its control. The nozzle throat erosion is a one of an important input parameter for predicting the solid rocket motor ballistics performance accurately. This must be accounted at the design stage of solid rocket motor.

 The nozzle throat back wall temperature(skin

temperature) can also be predicted precisely by applying moving boundary method with unsteady heat transfer analysis. The throat erosion will be more in the case of large size motors and long burning motors. The erosion rates will be different for various nozzle throat materials under attack of high temperature combustion gases from different solid propellants and for different operating conditions. Among various materials, graphite is widely used for nozzle throat inserts, due to its excellent thermal and physical properties.

 The main disadvantage is poor erosion resistance

especially at high gas temperatures and long burning times. The relative importance of different variables influencing the erosion mechanism is not known. various mathematical models have been developed to find out some significant variables only , which are really affecting the throat erosion. No mathematical model was developed to account all significant variables .

Consequently the dimensional analysis is commonly employed in such a situation to indicate logical grouping of the significant variables and fond the correlation from the number of experiments.

Project overview
Literature survey

Numerical calculations of graphite nozzle

erosion characteristics Coding in C-programme

LITERATURE SURVEY

 From the literature survey, we have found that the

graphite erosion is occurred due to the following:

1.

Chemical reaction of propellant gases with graphite material. (CHEMICAL EROSION) Mechanical scrubbing of solid particles of combustion with carbon surface. (MECHANICAL EROSION)

2.

The effectiveness degree of these factors will depend on:

Composition Temperature Pressure of the reacting products Density of Graphite

Nozzle

Nozzle Erosion Due to the flow of high temperature and high velocity gases through nozzle, its layers are removed gradually from its surface. This process is called as nozzle erosion.

Eroded nozzle

Graphite
Excellent shock resistance

High vaporization temperature

Much lower density than

metals

Graphite material

NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS

Correlation for Graphite throat erosion

For calculating the erosion at graphite throat

correlation technique has been used. In this technique results are correlated with dimension less groups and ratios and determined in unknown exponents from those experimental data. The least squares is used to find out the unknown coefficients.

 the erosion rate is mainly dependent on the following

parameters: Dco,mix:diffusion coefficient Dt: Initial throat diameter V: Average velocity of gas gp : Density of gas particle m : Density of graphite : Gas viscosity t : Burn time Cp : Gas heat capacity K : Thermal conductivity : Subsonic entry length : Blowing parameter : Alumina gas Cloud Emissivity

 Dt, V, gp,, m,,t,Cp,K are the inputs ,we will vary

accordingly. Dco,mix, , are the variables to be found.

Blowing parameter(): The primary constituents in the

exhaust stream of composite propellant reacting with graphite were found to be H2O, C2O, O2 & OH. These reactions are : C + H2O CO+H2 C + CO2 2CO C +O2 CO C + OH CO + H2 C + O CO

For these reactions, the blowing parameter is defined as

where MWcarbon = molecular weight of carbon MWgp = molecular weight of graphite X= mole fraction.

 Diffusion Coefficient(Dco,mix):

Chemical reaction rates at high surface temperatures are very high, and consequently, the reaction controlling phenomenon are diffusionlimited. A mean diffusion coefficient that characterizes the system is selected as the binary diffusion coefficient for carbon monoxide since it is the main product of erosion. For mixtures, the binary diffusion coefficient was determined by:

 The binary diffusion coefficient for non-polar

gases is given by :

The binary diffusion coefficient depends upon

the type of gases whether the polar gases or nonpolar gases. Collision integral vary in this case accordingly with polar and non polar gases.

 For polar gases collision integral is

For non polar gases collision integral is

Alumina Gas Cloud Emissivity ( ):

Important parameter, which strongly influences the

throat erosion, is a total alumina gas cloud emissivity at nozzle throat. This is the emissivity of products of exhaust gases of solid propellant at nozzle throat. The empirical relation of emissivity in terms of nozzle throat diameter is given by:

 The Correlation is given

by:

0.9

0.8

0.7

E R O S I O N R A T E

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Burn time

REFERENCES
PREDICTION OF GRAPHITE THROAT EROSION

IN SOLID ROCKET MOTOR NOZZLES by

M.Ratnam,scientist,directorate Of Solid Propulsion Systems Centre,ASL,DRDL,hyd. IMPORTANT FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS OF THE ROCKET NOZZLE EROSION PROCESSES AND THEORETICAL/NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS,chia-yung lin. The Pennsylvania State University.