Review of Composite Propellant Burn Rate Modeling

TLDR: In this article, stable state combustion modeling of composite solid propellants is discussed with emphasis on the BDP model and some revisions are considered with respect to the analysis of monomodal ammonium perchlorate/inert binder propellants: topics examined include continuity relations, surface area relations, characteristic surface dimension, flame heights and energy balance.

Abstract: Steady-state combustion modeling of composite solid propellants is discussed with emphasis on the Beckstead-Derr-Price (BDP) model The BDP model and some revisions are considered with respect to the analysis of monomodal ammonium perchlorate/inert binder propellants: topics examined include continuity relations, surface area relations, characteristic surface dimension, flame heights, and energy balance Application of the BDP model to more complicated propellants containing multiple active ingredients is described These propellants include multimodal, mixed oxidizer, active binder, aluminized, catalyzed, and nitramine propellants Example cases of modeling (with comparison to experimental data) are presented, and strengths and weaknesses of current modeling approaches are evaluated