Parametric Study on Solid Rocket Motor Ignition Transient Prediction using ROBOOST simulation tool.

In the design of solid propellant rocket motors (SRMs), ignition transient is a strongly unsteady phenomenon including steep pressure variations, convective heat transfer process coupled with combustion chamber internal fluid dynamics. Thus, the above-mentioned phenomenon, due to its complexity has an effective impact on the design process in terms of statistical variability regarding SRM performance. For this reason, a low time-consuming code should be used in order to provide a wide spectrum of statistical performance sensitivity. This paper is intended to provide a simplified physical model to predict the ignition transient phase. The above-mentioned techniques are developed and tested on ROBOOST (Rocket BOOst Simulation Tool) which is a ballistic simulator developed at the Laboratory of Propulsion and Mechanics of the University of Bologna in collaboration with AVIO S.p.a. Simulations results are carried out and discussed.