Date of Award
Summer 2003
Document Type
Thesis - Restricted
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
First Advisor
Majdalani, Joseph C.
Second Advisor
Fournelle, Raymond A.
Third Advisor
Park, Hyunjae
Abstract
Acoustic instability is currently viewed as one of the major challenges facing Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) developers. Unaccounted for, this phenomenon can induce undesirable pressure waves traveling in both longitudinal and transverse directions inside a rocket combustion chamber. Whenever the amplitude of these waves becomes large, intense vibrations and fluctuating loads can be experienced. These undesirable oscillations can lead to structural damage or outright motor failure. This work constitutes a follow-up to a recent study by Flandro and Majdalani 39 who have analyzed the linear aspects of this problem earlier last year. The current study builds on what their work has established, and expands the results that they have produced. The main benefit lies in the addition of few new terms which help to improve our predictive capabilities using explicit integral expressions. The current work considers two combustion chamber geometries. These correspond to the cylindrical and rectangular port perforations associated with an internal burning cylinder and slab motors, respectively. This study not only provides accurate and reliable approximations, but goes further to study the effects of key chamber parameters and their bearing on stability.
Recommended Citation
Chibli, Hicham A., "Higher Order Combustion Instability Corrections for Solid Rocket Motors" (2003). Master's Theses (1922-2009) Access restricted to Marquette Campus. 4108.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/theses/4108