Optimal Design of Solid Propellant Configuration through Internal Ballistics Analysis

초록

The most important part of the solid rocket motor (SRM) is the propellant configuration design. The thrust profile is one of the main design considerations and it has been given in various forms according to the mission. The propellant grain charged into the combustion chamber should be designed according to the thrust profile. Design of the propellant grain should consider the many variables and the redesign process by iterative calculations is required. The optimal design of the propellant grain is, also, needed during the design process for the reduction of time and cost. A study for the optimal design of the propellant grain satisfying the object thrust profile has been conducted. Optimization tool developed in this study, involves ballistics performance prediction analysis of SRM, burn-back analysis and the mathematical optimization algorithm. The 0-D internal ballistics solver has been developed for the performance prediction of the SRM. Also, the burn-back analysis code has been developed for the calculation of the burning surface and port area. The simplex method has been used for the optimal design algorithm. Through this study, the optimal design program for the solid propellant grain has been developed. The program is planned to be utilized for the system design optimization.