Gas dynamics and heat transfer inside a solid propellant crack during ignition transient

To study the gas dynamic and heat transfer phenomena inside a single isolated longitudinal solid propellant surface crack, two 3-D geometric models with different crack shapes were constructed. Concerning the influence of propagation of jet from the igniter on the flame spreading phenomena in the crack, flow region around the opening of the crack was also included in the above geometric models. A theoretical framework was then adopted to model the conjugate heat transfer in the combustion channel and the crack cavity. Numerical simulation results indicate that the ignition shock wave can spread into the crack cavity. Extremely high overpressure and pressurization rate were observed along the crack front. It is possible that the crack may propagate before the flame front reaches it. An ignited region located at the crack front near to the channel surface in downstream direction was generated long before the flame front reached the crack opening in both models.