Augmentation and Control of Burn Rates in Plasma Devices
Abstract
Interaction of electrothermal plasmas with solid propellants necessitates thorough understanding of plasma-propellant interface physics, momentum and energy transfer, plasma flow regimes, and mixing processes. High heat fluxes produced from electrothermal plasmas may enhance the propellant's burn rate via radiation, but limitation on enhancement might be limited by the effectiveness of the vapor shield mechanism. This report provides experimental studies on plasma-propellant interaction utilizing the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Plasma-Propellant Interaction Experiment "PIPE", which is a plasma-chemical device that has been constructed to investigate the physics taking place at the plasma-propellant interface in plasma-chemical systems. The study provides an investigation of the effect of plasma on the burn rates of solid propellants as a function of plasma parameters, and decoupled effect of plasma pressure and temperature on observed burn rates of JA-2 solid granular propellant. Theory and code development include a psuedo 2-D, time dependent plasma source code that predicts plasma parameters, and a 2-D turbulent boundary layer code with coupled radiation transport.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 10, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA363625
Entities
People
- John G. Gilligan
- Mohamed A. Bourham
Organizations
- North Carolina State University