Solid Rocket

Solid-Fueled Rocket

When the fuel in a solid-fueled rocket is ignited, the gases formed during combustion areforced out the nozzle and the rocket moves forward. The fuel is called the

grain

and is oftenformed with a hollow core for longer burning times.

Solid rockets

arerocketswith a motor that uses solid propellants(fuel/oxidizer

). TheChineseinvented solid rockets and were using them in warfare by the 13th century. Allrockets used some form of solid or powdered propellantup until the20th century. Solid rockets are considered to be safe and reliable due to the long engineering history andsimple design.

Basic Concepts

simple solid rocket motor consists of a casing,nozzle,grain (propellant charge), and igniter.The grain behaves like a solid mass, burning in a predictable fashion and producingexhaust gases. The nozzle dimensions are calculated to maintain a design chamber pressure, while producing thrust from the exhaust gases.Once ignited, a solid rocket motor cannot be shut off.Modern designs may also include; steerable nozzle for guidance, avionics, recoveryhardware (parachutes), self destruct mechanisms, APU's, and thermal management materials.

Design

Design begins with the totalimpulserequired, this determines the fuel/oxidizer mass.Grain geometry and chemistry are then chosen to satisfy the required motor characteristics.The following are chosen or solved simultaneously. The results are exact dimensions for grain, nozzle and case geometries;

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The grain burns at a predictable rate, given its surface area and chamber pressure.

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The chamber pressure is determined by the nozzle orifice diameter and grain burnrate.

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Allowable chamber pressure is a function of casing design.

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The length of burn time is determined by the grain 'web thickness'.The grain may be bonded to the casing, or not. Case bonded motors are much moredifficult to design, since deformation of both the case and grain, under operatingconditions, must be compatible.Common modes of failure in solid rocket motors are; fracture of the grain, failure of case bonding, and air pockets in the grain. All of these produce an instantaneous increase in burn surface area, and a corresponding increase in exhaust gas and pressure, and ruptureof the casing.

Another failure mode is casingsealdesign. Seals are required in casings that have to beopened to load the grain. Once a seal fails, hot gas will erode the escape path and result infailure. This was the cause of theSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster .

Grain

Solid fuel grains are usually molded from a thermoset elastomer (which doubles as fuel),additional fuel, oxidizer, and catalyst. HTPBis commonly used for this purpose. Ammonium perchlorateis the most common oxidizer used today.The fuel is cast in different forms for different purposes. Slow, long burning rockets havea cylinder shaped grain, burning from one end to the other. Most grains, however, are castwith a hollow cross section, burning from the inside out (and outside in, if not case bonded), as well as from the ends.The thrust profile over time can be controlled by grain geometry. For example, a star shaped hole down the center of the grain will have greater initial thrust because of theadditional surface area. As the star points are burned up, the surface area and thrust arereduced.

Casing

The casing may be constructed from a range of materials. Cardboard is used for modelengines. Steel is used for the space shuttle boosters. Filament wound graphite epoxycasings are used for high performance motors.

Nozzle

AConvergent Divergentdesign accelerates the exhaust gas out of the nozzle to producethrust.Sophisticated solid rocket motors use steerable nozzles for rocket control.

Performance

Solid fuel rocket motors have a typicalspecific impulse of 265 lbf·s/lb (2.6 kN·s/kg). This compares to 285 lbf·s/lb (2.8 kN·s/kg) for kerosene/Loxand ~389 lbf·s/lb (3.8 kN·s/kg) for liquid hydrogen/Lox

1

. For this reason solids are generally used as initial stages in arocket, with better performing liquid engines reserved for final stages. However, thevenerable Star line motors manufactured byThiokol have a long history as the final boost stage for satellites. This is due to their simplicity, compactness and high mass fraction. The ability of solid rockets to remain in storage for long periods, and then reliably launchat a moments notice, makes them the design of choice for military applications.