Studies on Gravity Influence on Solid Propellant Burn Rate

Experimental studies have been carried out using the in-house developed propellant samples at the atmospheric conditions to examine the influence of propellant surface orientation / attitude on burn rate. A series of burning tests are conducted with different grain orientations, viz., vertical, inverted and horizontal. We have observed 5 % burn rate augmentation on end-burning grains when the burning surface evolution was against the earth gravity compared to the normal vertical candle burning condition. We conjectured that the coupled effects of the instantaneous variations of the propellant burning surface attitude and the flight acceleration during the mission could alter the flame structure due to the local gravitational influence, which in turn alter the burn rate. This paper throws light for developing a suitable gravitational force dependant burn rate model for improving the performance prediction of solid rocket motors for aerospace applications.