Effect of the fluid–structure interaction on solid rocket motors instabilities

Authors

  • J. Richard Cerfacs, 42 Avenue Gaspard Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse, France
  • T. Morel Cerfacs, 42 Avenue Gaspard Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse, France
  • F. Nicoud CNRS UMR5149, Université Montpellier 2,2 Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/17797179.2012.728054

Keywords:

large eddy simulation, Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method, fluid–structure interaction

Abstract

Large solid propellant rocket motors may be subjected to aero-acoustic instabilities arising from a coupling between the burnt gas flow and the acoustic eigenmodes of the combustion chamber. Given the size and cost of any single firing test or launch, it is of first importance to predict and avoid these instabilities at the design level. The main purpose of this paper is to build a numerical tool in order to evaluate how the coupling of the fluid flow and the whole structure of the motor influences the amplitude of the aeroacoustic oscillations living inside of the rocket. A particular attention was paid to the coupling algorithm between the fluid and the solid solvers in order to ensure the best energy conservation through the interface. A computation of a subscaled version of the Ariane 5 solid propellant engine is presented as illustration.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Batina, J.T. (1990). Unsteady Euler airfoil solutions using unstructured dynamic meshes. AIAA Journal,

(8), 1381–1388.

Buis, S., Piacentini, A., & Déclat, D. (2006). Palm: A computational framework for assembling highperformance

computing applications. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and experience, 18

(2), 231–245.

Culick, F.E.C. (1966). Acoustic oscillations in solid propellant rocket chambers. Astronautica Acta, 12

(2), 113–126.

Dotson, K.W., & Sako, B.H. (2004). An investigation of propulsion-structure interaction in solid rocket

motors. 40th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 11–14 July 2004,

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, AIAA Paper No. 2004–4183.

Fabignon, Y., Dupays, J., Avalon, G., Vuillot, F., Lupoglazoff, N., Casalis, G., & Prevost, M. (2003).

Instabilities and pressure oscillations in solid rocket motors. Aerospace Science and Technology, 7

(3), 191–200.

Farhat, C., Degand, C., Koobus, B., & Lesoinne, M. (1998). Torsional springs for two-dimensional

dynamic unstructured fluid meshes. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 163

(1–4), 231–245.

Farhat, C., & Lesoinne, M. (1996). On the accuracy, stability, and performance of the solution of three

dimensional nonlinear transient aeroelastic problems by partitioned procedures. Proceedings of the

th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and materials Conference, 18-

April 1996, Salt lake City, Utah, AIAA Paper No. 96-1388.

Flandro, G.A. (1986). Vortex driving mechanism in oscillatory rocket flows. Journal of Propulsion and

Power, 2(3), 206–214.

Giordano, J., Jourdan, G., Burtschell, Y., Medale, M., Zeitoun, D.E., & Houas, L. (2005). Shock wave

impacts on deforming panel, an application of fluid-structure interaction. Shock Waves, 14(1), 103–110.

Hijlkema, J. Prévost, M., & Casalis, G. (2011). On the importance of reduced scale Ariane 5 P230 solid

rocket motor models in the comprehension and prevention of thrust oscillations. CEAS Space

Journal, 1 (1), 99–107.

Hughes, T.J.R. (1987). The finite element method: Linear static and dynamic finite element analysis.

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Kourta, A. (1996a). Acoustic-mean flow interaction and vortex shedding in solid rocket motors.

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 22(6), 449–465.

Kourta, A. (1996b). Vortex shedding in segmented solid rocket motors. Journal of Propulsion and

Power, 12(2), 371–376.

Lesoinne, M., & Farhat, C. (1993). Stability analysis of dynamic meshes for transient aeroelastic

computations. 11th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, 6–9 July 1993, Orlando,

Florida, AIAA Paper No. 93–3325.

Lesoinne, M., & Farhat, C. (1996). Geometric conservation laws for flow problems with moving

boundaries and deformable meshes, and their impact on aeroelastic computations. Computer

Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 134(1–2), 71–90.

Lupoglazoff, N., & Vuillot, F. (1996). Parietal vortex shedding as a cause of instability for long solid

propellant motors numerical simulations and comparisons with firing tests. Office National d’Etudes

et de Recherches Aerospatiales (ONERA), 92-Chatillon (France).

Nicoud, F., Benoit, L., Sensiau, C., & Poinsot, T. (2007). Acoustic modes in combustors with complex

impedances and multidimensional active flames. AIAA Journal, 45(2), 426.

Nielsen, E.J., & Anderson, W.K. (2002). Recent improvements in aerodynamic design optimization on

unstructured meshes. AIAA Journal, 40(6), 1155–1163.

Piperno, S., & Farhat, C. (2001). Partitioned procedures for the transient solution of coupled aeroelastic

problems-Part II: Energy transfer analysis and three-dimensional applications. Computer Methods in

Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 190(24–25), 3147–3170.

Piperno, S., Farhat, C., & Larrouturou, B. (1995). Partitioned procedures for the transient solution of

coupled aroelastic problems Part I: Model problem, theory and two-dimensional application.

Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 124(1–2), 79–112.

Schmitt, P., Poinsot, T., Schuermans, B., & Geigle, K.P. (2007). Large-eddy simulation and experimental

study of heat transfer, nitric oxide emissions and combustion instability in a swirled turbulent

high-pressure burner. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 570, 17–46.

Schoenfeld, T., & Rudgyardt, M. (1999). Steady and unsteady flow simulations using the hybrid flow

solver AVBP. AIAA Journal, 37(11), 1378–1385.

Vuillot, F. (1995). Vortex-shedding phenomena in solid rocket motors. Journal of Propulsion and Power,

(4), 626–639.

Wasistho, B., Fiedler, R., Namazifard, A., & Mclay, C. (2006). Numerical study of turbulent flow in

SRM with protruding inhibitors. Urbana, 51, 61801.

Downloads

Published

2012-06-06

How to Cite

Richard, J., Morel, T. ., & Nicoud, F. (2012). Effect of the fluid–structure interaction on solid rocket motors instabilities. European Journal of Computational Mechanics, 21(3-6), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.13052/17797179.2012.728054

Issue

Section

Original Article