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Large-Eddy Simulations of a Reactive Solid Rocket Motor Plume

Published Online:28 Feb 2020https://doi.org/10.2514/1.J058601

Abstract

Large-eddy simulation (LES) of a solid rocket motor plume is performed with a reduced chemical scheme that is able to describe the postcombustion occurring in the multispecies supersonic plume between the unburnt exhaust and ambient air. The reduced chemical scheme is first evaluated on laminar flame cases in conditions representative of those encountered in the LES of the reactive plume. The reduced mechanism is then applied to three-dimensional LES, which provides a more detailed representation of the structure of the solid rocket motor exhaust plume compared with previous studies based on one-dimensional box models or three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations. The present chemical model does not include alumina particles, whose effects at the plume scale are still uncertain, yet the simulation offers a prediction of the chlorine species distribution, which is known to produce strong interactions with stratospheric ozone, eventually leading to ozone depletion.

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