Determination of Pressure Profile During Closed-Vessel Test Through CFD Simulation

Two-phase flow modeling of solid propellants has great potential for simulating and predicting the ballistic parameters in closed vessel tests as well as in guns. This paper presents a numerical model describing the combustion of a solid propellant in a closed chamber and takes into account what happens in such two-phase, unsteady, reactive-flow systems. The governing equations are derived in the form of coupled, non-linear axisymmetric partial differential equations. The governing equations with customized parameters are implemented into Ansys Fluent 14.5. The presented solutions predict the pressure profile inside the closed chamber. The results show that the present code adequately predicts the pressure-time history. The numerical results are in agreement with the experimental results. Some discussions are given regarding the effect of the grain shape and the sensitivity of these predictions to the initial pressure of the solid propellant bed. The study demonstrates the capability of using the present model implemented into Fluent, to simulate the combustion of solid propellants in a closed vessel and, eventually, the interior ballistic process in guns.