Numerical analysis of transient combustion response to acoustic oscillations in axisymmetric rocket motors

A numerical analysis of unsteady motions in solid rocket motors with a nozzle has been conducted. The formulation treats the complete conservation equations for the gas phase and the one-dimensional equations in the radial direction for the condensed phase. A fully coupled implicit scheme based on a dual time-stepping integration algorithm has been adopted to solve the governing equations and associated boundary conditions. After obtaining a steady state solution, periodic pressure oscillations are imposed at the head end to simulate acoustic oscillations of a traveling-wave motion in the combustion chamber. The amplitude of the pressure oscillation is 1.0 % of the mean pressure and the frequency is 1790 Hz, corresponding to the twice of the fundamental frequency of the chamber. Magnitude and phase of pressure and axial velocity fluctuations are influenced by the upstream reflecting wave from the nozzle wall. Axial velocity near surface region oscillates in phase advance manner with reference to the acoustic pressure. Large vorticity fluctuations are observed in near surface region. The mass-flow-rate at the nozzle exit periodically oscillates with a time delay compared to the imposed pressure oscillations at the head end.