CFD simulation of flow field characteristics of a pintle nozzle for solid rocket motor

Pintle nozzles are quintessential means of modulating pressure and thrust of a solid rocket motor (SRM). In the present work, numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the steady flow field characteristics of a 2D axisymmetric pintle nozzle. The effect of various pintle stroke lengths on...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maurya, Shubham, Kalluru, Khadarvoli, Raghavan, Jeenu, Krishnadasan, C. K., Jayaprakash, J.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Mach number
Mathematical models
Nozzles
Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes method
Solid propellant rocket engines
Steady flow
Thrust
Turbulence effects
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Summary:Pintle nozzles are quintessential means of modulating pressure and thrust of a solid rocket motor (SRM). In the present work, numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the steady flow field characteristics of a 2D axisymmetric pintle nozzle. The effect of various pintle stroke lengths on the flow field and performance of the pintle nozzle is also studied. The computations are carried out for different inlet chamber pressures. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved using pressure based coupled solver available in Fluent 18.0. Second order discretization is used for spatial terms and turbulence effects were modeled using k-ω SST model. Validation is performed by comparing the results with one dimensional calculation. Mach number contours for different pintle stroke lengths clearly indicate that pintle movement affects the sonic line transition and flow field in the downstream of nozzle which in turn results in thrust modulation.
ISSN:0094-243X
1551-7616
DOI:10.1063/5.0127799