Principles of Solid Rocket Motor Design

Naminosuke Kubota

ABSTRACT: A number of parameters are needed to design a rocket motor to satisfy the specified flight trajectory of its payload. The major components of a rocket motor are propellant grain, motor case and its insulation, nozzle, and igniter. One of the key parameters is the burn rate characteristic of the propellant grain that is set in a rocket chamber either by cast method or by free-stand. The combustion phenomena in the motor are highly dependent on the design of the perforated propellant grains in which transient burning, erosive burning, oscillatory burning, and unstable burning occur. As a special rocket motor design, a two stage motor with two propellant grains in a single chamber, is described and compared with practical firing test results.

Keywords: flight dynamics, rocket motor, propellant combustion, two-stage motor, igniter, propellant grain, nozzle

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Ref: JPyro, Issue 20, 2004, pp27-50
(J20_27)

© Journal of Pyrotechnics and CarnDu Ltd



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