Slag Prediction in Submerged Rocket Nozzle Through Two-Phase CFD Simulations

Amit Kumar Chaturvedi; Sudarshan Kumar; Debasis Chakraborty

doi:10.14429/dsj.65.7147

Amit Kumar Chaturvedi Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad
Sudarshan Kumar Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai
Debasis Chakraborty Defence Research and Development Laboratories, Hyderabad

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14429/dsj.65.7147

Abstract

A computational procedure has been established to predict the slag in a practical solid rocket motor with submerged nozzle. Both single-phase and two-phase flow analyses have been performed in the rocket motor port. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations along with SST turbulence model have been solved for gas-phase calculations. The effect of ejected alumina particles from the propellant geometry on the flow field has been simulated through Lagrangian tracking method. The computational methodology is firstly validated by comparing against other numerical results of rocket motors available in the literature before applying the same to predict the slag accumulation of a submerged rocket motor for strategic applications. Burn-back geometries at different instants have been simulated and parametric studies were performed to find out the effect of Al₂O₃ particle size. It was observed that the slag capture rate increases uniformly with A1₂O₃ particle size. The predicted slag accumulation data match closely with the ground test data for the range of conditions simulated in the present work.

Defence Science Journal, Vol. 65, No. 2, March 2015, pp.99-106, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.65.7147

Author Biographies

Amit Kumar Chaturvedi, Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad

Mr Amit Kumar Chaturvedi received his BTech in Aerospace Engineering from Aeronautical Society of India in 2001 and MTech in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India in, 2013. He is working as a scientist at the Advanced systems Laboratory, DRDO, Ministry of Defence. His current research interests are in the areas of solid rocket propulsion, internal and two-phase flows. He is a member of Aeronautical Society of India. He has presented 5 research papers in national conferences.

Sudarshan Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai

Prof. Sudarshan Kumar is currently working as an Associate Professor in the department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He has received his Master’s and PhD degree in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. His main areas of research include, microcombustion, flameless combustion, combustion instabilities in solid rockets, and gas turbine engines, emission reduction from combustion systems and modelling of combustion systems. He has more than 45 research papers published in various reputed international journals and more than 70 papers in various national and international conferences.

Debasis Chakraborty, Defence Research and Development Laboratories, Hyderabad

Dr Debasis Chakraborty obtained his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from IISc, Bengaluru. Presently, he is working as Technology Director, Computational Dynamics Directorate, DRDL, Hyderabad. His research interests include CFD, aerodynamics, high speed combustion, and propulsion. He has more than 60 journal papers and 80 conference publications to his credit.