Stability analysis and numerical simulation of simplified solid rocket motors

Abstract

This paper investigates the Parietal Vortex Shedding (PVS) instability that significantly influences the Pressure Oscillations of the long and segmented solid rocket motors. The eigenmodes resulting from the stability analysis of a simplified configuration, namely, a cylindrical duct with sidewall injection, are presented. They are computed taking into account the presence of a wall injection defect, which is shown to induce hydrodynamic instabilities at discrete frequencies. These instabilities exhibit eigenfunctions in good agreement with the measured PVS vortical structures. They are successfully compared in terms of temporal evolution and frequencies to the unsteady hydrodynamic fluctuations computed by numerical simulations. In addition, this study has shown that the hydrodynamic instabilities associated with the PVS are the driving force of the flow dynamics, since they are responsible for the emergence of pressure waves propagating at the same frequency. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.