Discrimination for ablative control mechanism in solid-propellant rocket nozzle

The ablation in solid-propellant rocket nozzle is a coupling process resulted by chemistry, heat and mass transfer. Based on the heat and mass transfer theory, the aero-thermo-dynamic, and thermo-chemical kinetics, the thermal-chemical ablation model is established. Simulations are completed on the heat flow field and chemical ablation in the nozzle with different concentrations, frequency factors and activation energy of H2. The calculation results show that the concentration and the activation energy of H2 can provoke the transformation of control mechanism, whereas the influence brought by the frequency factor of H2 is feeble under a high-temperature and high-pressure combustion circumstance. The discrimination for ablative control mechanism is dependent on both concentration and activation energy of H2. This study will be useful in handling ablation and thermal protection problem in the design of solid-propellant rocket.