Quasi-One-Dimensional Modeling of Internal Ballistics and Axial Acoustics in Solid Rocket Motors

An unsteady quasi-one-dimensional flow solver for simulating internal ballistics and axial acoustic fluctuations in solid rocket motors is presented in this paper. Higher-order numerical solutions of quasi-one-dimensional governing equations are prone to numerical oscillations due to the nonconservative form of the governing equations and the nonsmooth axial variations of the cross-sectional area. Adding artificial dissipation to a central scheme is found to be inadequate for suppression of such oscillations, and so a simple low dissipation shock-capturing scheme (named SLAU2) is used instead. The inherent numerical dissipation of this scheme is helpful in the proper capturing of steep-fronted acoustic waves (that develop at the onset of triggered instabilities) without undesirable numerical damping of the acoustic waves. Using the new solver, a procedure for computing characteristic frequencies, corresponding mode shapes, and damping rates is proposed and validated for a motor with a cylindrical grain ge...