Copyright ©1996, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

AIAA Meeting Papers on Disc, July 1996

A9637336, AIAA Paper 96-3248

Effects of particulate phase on vortex shedding driven oscillations in solid

rocket motors
J. Dupays
ONERA, Chatillon, France

M. Prevost
ONERA, Chatillon, France

P. Tarrin
ONERA, Chatillon, France

F. Vuillot
ONERA, Chatillon, France

AIAA, ASME, SAE, and ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 32nd, Lake
Buena Vista, FL, July 1-3, 1996

An experimental study which was aimed at validating a new two-phase flow code based on the two fluid model is
first described. For this purpose, a whistling motor was designed and numerous firing tests with propellants loaded
or not with spherical alumina particles were conducted. As expected, all tests evidenced vortex shedding-driven
oscillations locked on first axial modes as well as a particulate damping. A configuration leading to the occurrence
of a sustained self-excitation phenomenon was chosen for the numerical simulations. The computations were
fulfilled without turbulence and propellant combustion models. For the single-phase simulation, excellent
agreement with experimental data is observed regarding frequency. The oscillation levels are not so well
predicted, but the fast spatial variation of the rms amplitude is nicely recovered. By contrast, large discrepancies
between experiments and simulation are found for the two-phase case. The numeric was exonerated thanks to a
simple test which consisted in studying the propagation of an acoustic wave in a two-phase medium at rest.
(Author)

Page 1
32nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Lake Buena Vista, FL, July 1-3,1996
EFFECTS OF PARTICULATE PHASE ON VORTEX SHEDDING DRIVEN
OSCILLATIONS IN SOLID ROCKET MOTORS
J. DUPAYS*, M. PREVOST*, P. TARRINt, F. VUILLOT*
Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales (ONERA)
B.P. 72, F 92322 CHATILLON CEDEX FRANCE
ABSTRACT
An experimental study which was aimed at validating a
new two-phase flow code based on the two fluid model is
first described. For this purpose, a whistling motor was
designed and numerous firing tests with propellants loaded
or not with spherical alumina particles were conducted. As
expected, all tests evidenced vortex shedding driven
oscillations locked on first axial modes as well as a
particulate damping. A configuration leading to the
occurrence of a sustained self-excitation phenomenon was
chosen for the numerical simulations.
The computations were fulfilled without turbulence and
propellant combustion models. For the single-phase
simulation, excellent agreement with experimental data is
observed regarding frequency. The oscillation levels are
not so well predicted, but the fast spatial variation of the
rms amplitude is nicely recovered. By contrast, large
discrepancies between experiments and simulation are
found for the two-phase case. The numeric was exonerated
thanks to a simple test which consisted in studying the
propagation of an acoustic wave in a two-phase medium at
rest.
NOMENCLATURE
a speed of sound
CD drag coefficient
K ratio of mass of particles to mass of gas per unit
volume of the mixture
Cf specific heat of gas
C, specific heat of solid material
C* caracteristic velocity
D particle diameter
E total energy per unit mass
web thickness burned
frequency of the p* mode
h enthalpy per unit mass
k gas thermal conductivity
Nu Nusselt number
Pr Prandtl number
Ref particulate Reynolds number
Tf flame temperature
u, v velocity components in the x and y directions
5, AU, shear layer thickness and velocity difference
* Doctoral Student, CNES grant
* Reseach Scientist, Energetics Department
* Project Manager, Energetics Department, Member AIAA
Copyright0 1996 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, Inc., All rights reserved.
Y specific heat ratio of gas
fi gas dynamic viscosity
p bulk density
T bulk temperature
Pprop propellant density
p, particle material density
TV tt dynamic and thermal response times
f/, tf dynamic and thermal response times in the
Stokes regime
co angular frequency
subscripts
g gas phase
p particulate phase
0 chamber stagnation condition
INTRODUCTION
Analysis of acoustic mode excitation by vortex
shedding in large segmented solid rocket motors is a quite
challenging task due to its very complex nature but prove
to be often necessary to achieve reliable stability
predictions. The use of conventional linear method in such
propulsion system is thereby no longer relevant and may
lead to a troublesome misinterpretation as pointed out in
previous works (see e.g. [1-2]). Therefore, it is generally
recognized that the numerical simulation of the unsteady
compressible two-phase reactive internal flow will provide
the ultimate solutions.
In connection with the development of the Ariane 5
P230 solid rocket motor, ONERA, with support from
CNES, has been focusing on the elaboration of an efficient
numerical tool since 1988. Up to now, both experimental
and numerical studies carried out in the course of this
program were restricted to single-phase flow. Numerical
simulations with the ONERA SIERRA code were first
limited to laminar axisymmetric flows [3-5]. Next, some
effects of propellant combustion response and of
turbulence were introduced in the code [6].
In view of promising first results, it was then decided to
investigate two-phase flows since there are reasons to
believe that the condensed phase can noticeably alter the
propagation of acoustic waves and thus the resulting
oscillatory levels. The two-fluid method which is well
suited for predicting two-way interaction between both
phases was retained [7]. A 2D particle-cloud solver
provided by IUSTI [8] was incorporated, after some
rearrangements, into the SIERRA code for validation
purpose. The final aim of the study is to provide a two-
phase flow module to be used in other codes involved in
the CNES R & T program.
 As a first step, non reactive dispersed phase was
considered. The only source of interaction between the gas
and the particles is the viscous drag and heat transfer
resulting from the interphase velocity and temperature
differences.
To validate the codes, a simple whistling motor called
Clxb was designed and numerous firing tests with
appropriate propellants were conducted at ONERA/CFM
from August 1994 to January 1995. This paper is devoted
to the presentation of this campaign and of first numerical
results.
EXPERIMENTAL TEST CAMPAIGN
Motor design
The motor was carefully designed according to the
methodology described in [9], to make sure that the
coupling of periodic vortex shedding and pressure
oscillations will appear without the need of external
forcing. The geometry was chosen close to the geometry of
the test case investigated in [9] so as to use results from the
hydrodynamic stability analysis.
Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the motor. The
shear layer is generated from a chamfered edge of the grain
located in the middle of the chamber, which is also a
velocity antinode of the first axial mode. This
configuration give rise to a flow induced excitation without
adding an annular thin plate to simulate a protruding
inhibitor. This latter configuration may lead to a possible
complex interaction of inhibitor resonance with periodic
vortex shedding and was not retained. Such an interaction
is a problem in itself and is largely beyond the scope of
this study.
It is straightforward to verify that this simple geometry
will give rise to a vortex shedding phenomenon locked on
acoustic frequencies. Let SP be a Strouhal number defined
as follow :
AU,
then the p* mode will lie in the shear layer unstable range
if [9]
St"" < 1.6 or fff> < f(St = 1.6) = flt
and a maximum amplification will occur for a Strouhal
number close to 0.3. Variations of/ aj and/ /6 versus the
web distance burned in the Clxb are displayed figure 2 for
a 28 mm throat diameter. AUC and 8 have been expressed
as linear functions of the flow velocity in the centerbore
and of the web thickness burned respectively.
From these curves, it can be inferred that the first four
axial modes will be unstable and only the first one will be
unstable during all the burn. It can also be noted that in
view of motor dimensions, in particular both the port-to-
throat area ratio and the port-to-centerbore area ratio, the
erosive burning phenomenon remains marginal. The
chamber geometry is thus known throughout the firing and
computation-experiment comparisons are possible.
Finally, two additional design requirements were taken
into acount. They are summarized below :
- First, the dispersion of acoustics waves at the head end is
avoided by the choice of an ad hoc consuming igniter ;
- Second, a converging-diverging conical nozzle was
retained instead of a submerged one so as to simplify the
internal geometry.
Propellant development
As already emphasized, only non reactive paniculate
phase is considered in this study. Metallized propellants
are thus excluded. The introduction of aluminium oxide
particles into a non-metallized propellant constitutes a
natural choice provided that the flame temperature is of
course lower than its melting point.
To select the size range and the mass fraction, it is
interesting to refer to the acoustic balance theory. When
the ratio K is low, such that K* « 1, the linear growth rate
due to the damping of particles is given by the following
closed form expression [10]:
10 an',
-K—
with
._££! and
The absolute value of Op normalized by (o is plotted in
figure 3 for two diameters and two values of Cm. These
diameters have been selected because their order of
magnitude reflect the bimodal distribution encountered
inside actual motors burning aluminized propellants [11,
12]. Figure 3 clearly shows that 50 (im particles are
considerably less effective than 5 urn particles regarding
the attenuation of the first axial mode which frequency is
roughly 700 Hz (see table I). Therefore, this latter size is a
good candidate.
The mass fractions were selected by comparing the
magnitudes of the damping coefficient ap and of the
amplification coefficient Oconb expressing the response of
the propellant zone to acoustic pressure oscillation. The
computation was performed with the ONERA BALGEN
code [13]. The complex pressure coupled response was
arbitrarily fixed at (1.5,0). This value is consistent with
response measurements previously performed at ONERA
[14] and will be updated when data from characterization
tests will be available. Main results of the computation are
summarized in table I. For first axial mode and for 5 % and
10 % mass fractions, af remains lower than (Xcomt during
the total burn. In other words, both vortex shedding and
particle damping should be observed in the course of
firings for these size range and mass fractions.
Table I - Paniculate damping and combustion amplification in
the Clxb setup for the first axial mode and for 5 % mass fraction.
eb(mm) 0 4,5 9 13,5 18
Ctcomb (S"') -327.2 -222.0 -156.5 -113.8 -84.8
o,(s-') 50.6 50.5 50.3 49.9 49.4
CC^S1) -20.4 34.3 73.0 101.5 123.0
/ 711 707 701 695 688
 Let's note that, when all contributions (excepting along an opposite generatrice. Pressure signals were split
vortex shedding) are taken into account, the motor is into two channels consisting of a total signal and of a band
predicted stable during the major part of the burn by the pass filtered (240-2800 Hz) signal for pressure oscillation
acoustic balance method... analysis. Each channel was recorded at a 10 kHz sampling
Based on these results, three types of composite rate per channel. The data acquisition scheme and the
propellants were manufactured. The first one, a 79 % AP - respective position of transducers along the chamber are
21 % HTPB propellant, was kept free of particles to serve shown figure 4.
as reference. The last two were loaded with relatively Due to the increasing burning propellant surface, the
monodispersed (from 1 to 10 \im) spherical particles of chamber pressure uniformly increases during the burn.
alumina in the mass loading of 5 and 10 % respectively. Typical pressure measurements recorded during three tests
Their burning rate was closely related to each other in the (one per propellant family) are displayed figure 5. The
expected operational pressure range. Coefficients of the n- operating pressure roughly raise from 7 to 15 bars
power law are given table II. For the sake of simplicity, whatever the propellant. At this point, it's interesting to
these propellants will be subsequently called Butalite, note, for the sake of completness, the occurrence of the so-
Butalamine 5 % and Butalamine 10 %. Propellant and called hump effect for both the 02 and the 05/94 tests near
combustion products properties are listed in table III. the two thirds of the total burn time. Actually, all except
the test 07/94 evidenced such a phenomenon, typically
Table II - Coefficients of the n-power law (b is in mm/s/bar). related to the manufacturing process [15].
Differences between propellants are observed on
Butalite Butalamine 5 % Butalamine 10% unsteady pressure component recordings. All tests
experienced pressure oscillations as it can be seen in figure
b 1.43 1.74 2.20 6. Nevertheless, Butalite tests exhibited three puffs for
only two, appearing in the latest half of burn, for both
n 0.48 0.38 0.30 Butalamine compounds, as though the particles inhibited
the self-starting self-sustaining acoustic oscillations.
Table III-Propellant properties between 8 and IS bars.
Additionally, pressure oscillations damping is qualitatively
observed when a particulate phase is present in the
chamber. For Butalamine tests, significant pressure spikes
Butalite Butalamine Butalamine are detected at the end of the burn. These peaks are all the
5% 10% more pronounced as the mass fraction increases and
spectral analysis evidenced that they are poorly linked to
7>(K) 2221-2224 2256 - 2259 2296 - 2299 acoustic mode frequencies. In fact, this phenomenon can
CP (J/kg.K) 2029 - 2002 2006-1975 1983 - 1948 probably be attributed to the sudden increase in the
velocity lag between the two phases when the flow
7 1.240-1.243 1.224-1.226 1.208-1.210 decelerates at the end of the burn.
Spectral analysis were conducted to determine the
a(m/s) 1030-1031 994 - 996 957 - 958 magnitude of the frequency components in the oscillatory
5 5
pressure. As it was expected in the design phase, all tests
/J(kg/m.s) 7.0 10' 7.1 10' 7.2 10J exhibited acoustic-vortex shedding frequency lock-in,
especially on the first axial mode. Figure 7 shows the plot
/t(W/m.K) 0.268 0.264 0.259 of the square root of the power spectral density (psd) as a
function of both the frequency and the burn time for the
Pr 0.495 0.481 0.468 test 05/94. A rectangular weighting function was used in
C* 1407 1374 1338 the FFT algorithm and psd were determined by mean of
the periodogram technique operating on three overlapping
Pfrop (kg/m3) 1586 1649 1720 512 data point segments. The main feature associated with
vortex shedding, namely the decrease of the characteristic
frequency [1], is clearly obvious whatever the position.
Motor operation Similar trends are observed with the other compounds as
depicted figure 8. Data from the other tests roughly
The experimental campaign consisted in eight duplicate these results apart from 04/94 test which
horizontal firings divided in three phases as follows : experienced a long ignition delay (not shown).
- 3 Butalite tests (01/94,02/94, 03/94), Due to the relatively great number of measurement
- 3 Butalamine 5 % tests (04/94, 05/94, 06/94), points, it was also possible to match the course of vortices
- 2 Butalamine 10 % tests (07/94, 08/94). by displaying change (see figure 8 again) in V2 rms
The chamber pressure was measured using eleven amplitudes along the position for a given burnback
piezzo-electric KISTLER 701 high frequency response geometry, e.g., for 13.5 mm burned where the coupling
transducers, which were water-cooled to reduce their between the acoustic mode and the vortex shedding is the
thermal sensitivity shift. Their sensitive element were most sustained as it can be seen from figure 6. In contrast,
protected from high temperature and agressive combustion at the beginning of the firing, viz for 3 mm of burnback,
products by a plug of epoxy resin. Eight of them, including such a change is not found. It can be concluded that no
both transducers at the head end and the aft end, monitored coherent structures are yet present in the chamber at this
the chamber pressure along the same generatrice. The other time. The waterfall plots prove this, since no predominant
three were set in the same section that their counterpart but frequency is detected.
 Qualitative agreement between the theory and
experimental data was noted as far as participate damping
is concerned. The attenuation of instabilities was
demonstrated over all the position and more significantly
at the head end. This latter fact is not surprising because
the upstream running pressure wave has to travel a greater
distance and is thereby more damped. However, the
attenuation was surprisingly not increased by doubling the
mass fraction of alumina in the propellant, at least in the
second puff.
Finally, it is interesting to note that oscillation levels
recording in a same section by opposite transducers are
quite similar once deducted residual noise as shown in
figure 9.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION

Governing equations

As underlined in [16], there is no universally accepted

equations that describe the flow of a gas-particle mixture.
However, in the dilute assumption, where the interparticle
collisions time is negligible before the dynamic response
time, various reliable and useful numerical models are
available in the literature. Most of them are based on two
distinct approaches, namely the two-fluid and the
Lagrangian methods. The latter is best suited to treat
particle-laden flow in the very dilute limit. When the
particle number density is too high and/or the geometry is
complex, Lagrangian method requires a prohibitive
storage. In this case, the two-fluid method become more
appropriate [7], especially if the number of particle class of
interest is reduced. It is an added bonus that algorithms
developed for solving the gas phase equations can be used
for solving the paniculate phase equations too since the and
particle-cloud is regarded as a second fluid. dr.
-L.
dr.
_!
Among the two-fluid method, the so-called dusty gas
model [17] is commonly used in the propulsion area. In
this model, the particulate phase is assumed not to 3^' * r 2\S 'I' k ' pg~ *
contribute to the pressure of the mixture and thus the
thermal (or Brownian) motion is implicitly neglected. This for the gas phase and
simplification is justified in the Clxb because the */, 3F
molecular mean-free-path is close to 0.1 jum, far below the dt dx / dy
particule size. Finally, as breakup, agglomeration or
collisions effects are absent from the model, the equations \j

of the dispersed phase assume a parabolic form. f -\ Pf(ut~uf)

The following additional assumptions have been made : P,
- particles are hard solid spheres of constant material
FP = G =
density, specific heat and of uniform internal temperature ;
- mass transfers are not taken into account;
- the interphase exchange rate of momentum and energy
are due to the drag force and the convective heat transfer
only.
Under these aforementioned conditions, the two-phase
equations, written in a weak conservation form in either for the particulate phase, where :
h
planar or axisymmetric coordinate systems are given as P=C?>
follows (for convenience, equations of the dispersed phase In the above equations, ft is a switch between planar
are given for one class of particles) : and axisymmetric coordinates. For 0=1, x and y are the
axial and radial directions respectively. The relaxation
times Tu and T( are given by :
dy
where
 Various empirical expressions for the drag coefficients
are available. In view of the magnitude of the paniculate
Reynolds number encountered in a combustion chamber, a
good approximation of experimental data is given for
instance by the following expression [18]:
24 -\l + 0.15R °6>T\0.445
Crj = /Mi e Along wall, slip and adiabatic boundary conditions are
where the paniculate Reynolds number is defined as :
The Nusselt number is taken as [19]:
Numerical procedure
One of the main objective of this study was to elaborate
a mostly modular code based on an existing efficient gas
solver, the ONERA SIERRA code [3-6]. Both the
readability and the modularity of the particle-cloud solver
was emphasized so as to ensure its portability towards the
others codes supported by CNES. In particular, the
upgrade version of the solver, which will be able to take
into account mass transfers will be introduced in the SNPE
PATRIC code [20].
Since under the dilute assumption, both systems are
coupled by source terms only, resolution of the gas-particle
flowfield is carried out first by handling simultaneously the
conveying and the dispersed phases equations with no
source terms. Then, interphase exchange terms are
integrated in a final step. In so doing, the particle-cloud
numeric can be theoretically different from the gas one,
provided that the treatment of boundary conditions is
compatible.
The conservation equations of the dispersed phase are
integrated using either a finite-volume explicit Mac
Cormack scheme (1969) or a finite-volume explicit
Warming-Beam upwind scheme (1975). A blending of
second-difference and fourth-difference dissipation terms
have been added to prevent the occurrence of spurious
oscillations by mean of an improved Jameson-type
dissipation model satisfying TVD properties [21].
A general Runge-Kutta method of order s [22] or the
third-order TVD Runge-Kutta time discretization [23] are
applied to update interphase exchange terms.
Typically gas phase boundary conditions encountered
in solid rocket motor can be found in [3], They are
unchanged by the particles and will not be discussed here.
The numerical treatment of the boundary conditions for the
paniculate equations is quite different and is addressed
now.
Because of the parabolic nature of the dispersed phase
governing equations, all informations are transmitted along
particle trajectories. Indeed, it is straightforward to show
that all eigenvalues of the generalized Jacobian matrix are
Vp. K where Vf and xrare the particle velocity vector and the
wave vector respectively.
Therefore, at in inflow boundary, all variables must be
specified. For exemple, at the propellant surface, it is
assumed that particles are injected, normally to the surface,
with the same velocity as the gas. The bulk density of the
paniculate phase is deduced from the density of the gas
and from the loading which is known for a given
propellant. The injecting particle temperature is assumed to
be the flame temperature of the propellant.
For an outflow boundary, all flow variables are
calculated by mean of a simple first-order extrapolation
method.
imposed.
The relevance of a centerline boundary in a two-phase
flow computation is generally questionable. However, for
flows inside rocket motors, for which the mass flow rate is
sufficiently large, there are reasons to believe that no
particles cross centerlines. Thus, the definition of such
boundaries in the computational domain is possible and,
incidentally, quite convenient for reducing CPU time.
At this point, it's worth pointing out that to avoid
round-off errors in particle-free zones, particle properties
are automatically set to zero when the ratio of the bulk
density to a reference value, e.g. the injecting bulk density,
is lower than a threshold.
Single-phase Clxb flow
Single-phase flow computation can be directly
compared with the results of the three Butalite tests. The
configuration corresponding to the 13.5 mm burnback
geometry was retained because of the occurrence of a
sustained self-excitation phenomena locked on the first
axial mode. Computation was fulfilled without turbulence
model on a single domain 507x41 grid points. Gas and
propellant properties are listed in table III.
Spectrums from the experimental tests were determined
at 1024 points corresponding to 100 ms of the burn.
During this lapse of time, the propellant surface regress
only from 0.5 mm on average. Therefore, comparisons
with numerical simulation are relevant. As the frequency
resolution is about 10 Hz, the calculation was pursued
accordingly. For instance, the sampling rate and the
frequency resolution were fixed at 68 kHz (to pick up the
first radial mode, should the case arise) and 16.7 Hz
respectively. Amplitudes were determined at 4096 points.
Therefore, calculation was quite CPU-intensive : almost 22
h. of CPU-time was required on the ONERA Cray YMP
supercomputer.
Comparisons between numerical and experimental
spectrums are displayed in figure 10 for some positions.
Very good agreement is found as regards frequencies. In
particular, the first three modes are recovered and their
relative importance is very well predicted. The first radial
mode was also detected on the spectrums. This is not very
surprising since vortices evolve close to the lateral wall of
the chamber as it can be seen in figure 13 which presents a
time sequence of the vorticity field during one period of
the first axial mode.
To compare pressure oscillation levels, V2 rms
amplitudes, as a function of the position, are plotted in
figure 10. The measurement points which are not reported
were lost because of a data recording failure. Two remarks
can be made. First, in view of the amplitude at the head
end, it can be inferred that the computation underpredicts
the oscillation levels. The difference can be partly
attributed to the burning propellant response which was not
taken into account. Second, except PC 13 position, the fast
spatial variation is nicely recovered on numerical data.

Two-phase nozzle flow
This test case gives a good insight into the ability of the
particle-cloud solver to correctly capture the interface
between the particle-free zone and the remainder of the
flowfield in the diverging part of the nozzle.
Three tests were performed with 5, 20 and 75 |0.m
particles on a 74x21 grid points. The gas and particles
properties, as well as the chamber stagnation conditions are
listed in table IV below :
Table IV - Gas and particles properties.
/V=50 bar 3 ps=1766kg/m3
p«=3.78 kg/m CV=0.68 Cf
C,=2021.8J/kg/K K=0.396
j^l.23
^S.SSSKT'kg/m/s
P/=0.8
Prior to run two-phase flow computation, a single-
phase flow is fulfilled just for ensuring the starting of the
nozzle. Then, particles are injected along the upstream
boundary in thermal and dynamic equilibrium with the gas.
The computational domain is initially particle-void
throughout. Solution is updated until the steady state is
reached.
Figure 14 shows particle bulk density contour plols for
the three test cases. The Mac Cormack scheme and the
Warming Beam upwind scheme gave quite similar results.
As anticipated, in the vicinity of the wall, a particle-free
zone occurs which is all the more pronounced as the
particle size increases. In fact, large particles are inclined
to cluster along the centerline where the bulk density
increase drastically.
Propagation of an acoustic wave
To investigate the ability of the numeric to deal with
propagating phenomena, the damping and the dispersion of
an acoustic wave in a two-phase mixture was studied [20].
For this test case, the gas and particles properties are
unchanged. The interphase exchange terms are handled
with the third-order TVD Runge-Kutta scheme. The
computed dimensionless spatial coefficients of attenuation
and dispersion of acoustic energy are compared in figure
11 with the Temkin and Dobbins theory [10]. These
coefficients are defined by the following relations :
=-2L« and
Except for small Stokes number, for which the source
terms are stiff leading to numerical difficulties, very little
differences are discernible between the numerical data and
the theory.
Two-phase Clxb flow
Only one two-phase flow computation corresponding to
the Butalamine 5 % tests was performed. The gas
properties can be found in table III. Solid alumina
properties are listed in table V.
Table V - Solid alumina particles properties.
£,=3965 kg/m3
Cs=1362J/kg/K
KO.053
As we intend to fulfil an unsteady computation,
particles were injected in equilibrium with the gas from the
first iteration. After some 100,000 time steps, the chamber
pressure reaches 13.8 bars which is roughly the operating
pressure to within 3 %. As in the single-phase case, an
oscillatory behavior is observed but the oscillation levels
are much lower than in the experiment as shown in figure
12. The frequency of the disturbances is roughly 420 Hz
which is not an acoustic value but, according to the figure
2, is close to the critical frequency of the mixing layer
called f0}. In the computation, particles have thereby
broken the feedback mechanism, i.e. the uptream
propagation, which is an essential feature in the
organization of a self-sustaining oscillation. Vortices still
present in the chamber (see figure 15) are then convected
downstream at a lower frequency.
To explain these large discrepancies, further tracks will
have to be explored. First, the choice of a single class of
particles may be questionable, even though particles of
interest are very «acoustically active». A better description
of the size distribution should be paying. Second, because
of the non linear nature of the vortex shedding, the effect
of the combustion response will also have to be studied. A
small change may be sufficient to set in motion again the
oscillatory process. Finally, the 13.5 mm burnback
geometry lend itself to the possible development of
complex wall-eddy interactions which are not well
understood. A configuration belonging to the second puff
should reassure on that point and should permit a better
validation of the code.
CONCLUSIONS
The Clxb proved to be a very useful laboratory scale
setup for analyzing unsteady phenomena inside solid
rocket motor. Two distinct modes of operation were
discerned in the course of the burn. At the beginning,
spectrums are very noisy, no coupling between the acoustic
of the chamber and the aerodynamic field is found,
whereas, roughly at the latest half of the burn, a self-
excitation phenomenon locked on the first axial mode
occurs. Therefore, these experiments provided a strong
data base against which both turbulence and two-phase
flow models can be compared and evaluated. This setup
will also be useful for studying in detail the effects of the
aluminum combustion on the stability and, next for
validating active control system in a near future.
The numerical study demonstrated the ability of the
SIERRA code to correctly predict the stability behavior of
a whistling motor, at least for a single-phase case. For the
two-phase case, further investigations are needed to
explain the observed discrepancies between experimental
data and the numerical simulation. However, the excellent
results obtained on the acoustic wave test case give a good
confidence in the numerical procedure.

Acknowledgments
This work was performed within the research program
ASSM conducted with support of CNES/R&T, Direction
des Lanceurs, under the research convention 93/3040. The
authors express their thanks to E. Daniel (IUSTI) and P.Y.
Tissier (SNPE) for many fruitful discussions on the
numerical aspect of this study. C. Caugant (ONERA) is
acknowledged for his help in the data reduction task.
REFERENCES
[1] BROWN R.S., DUNLAP R., YOUNG S.W., WAUGH
R.C., Vortex Shedding as an Additional Source of
Acoustic Energy in Segmented Solid Propellant Rocket
Motors, AIAA 80-1092, AIAA/SAE/ASME 16th Joint
Propulsion Conference, Hartford, CT, June 30 - July 2,
1980.
[2] MATHES H.B., Assessment of Chamber Pressure
Oscillations in the Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster Motors,
AIAA 80-1091, AIAA/SAE/ASME 16th Joint Propulsion
Conference, Hartford, CT, June 30 - July 2, 1980.
[3] LUPOGLAZOFF N., VUILLOT F., Numerical
Simulation of Vortex Shedding Phenomenon in 2D Test
Case Solid Rocket Motors, AIAA 92-0776, AIAA 30th
Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit; Reno, NV, Jan. 6-
9, 1992.
[4] LUPOGLAZOFF N., VUILLOT F., Comparison
between Firing Tests and Numerical Simulation of Vortex
Shedding in a 2D Test Solid Motor, AIAA 93-3066, AIAA
24th Fluid Dynamics Conferences, Orlando, FL, July 6-9,
1993.
[5] VUILLOT F., TRAINEAU J.C., PREVOST M.,
LUPOGLAZOFF N., Experimental Validation of Stability
Assessment Methods for Segmented Solid Propellant
Motors, AIAA 93-1883, AIAA/SAE /ASME/ASEE 29th
Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Monterey, CA,
June 28-30, 1993.
[6] VUILLOT F., LUPOGLAZOFF N., Combustion and
Turbulent Flow Effects in 2D Unsteady Navier-Stokes
Simulation of Oscillatory Solid Rocket Motors, 34th
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, NV, Jan.
15-19, 1996.
[7] ELGHOBASHI S., On Predicting Particle-Laden
Turbulent Flows, Appl. Sci. Res. 52, 309-329, 1994.
[8] DANIEL E., SAUREL R., LARINI M., LORAUD
J.C., A Comparison Between Centered and Upwind
Schemes for Two-Phase Compressible Flows, AIAA 93-
2346, AIAA/SAE/ASME/ASEE 29th Joint Propulsion
Conference and Exhibit, Monterey, CA, June 28-30, 1993.
[9] VUILLOT F., Vortex-Shedding Phenomena in Solid
Rocket Motors, J. of Propulsion and Power 11 (4), 627-
639, 1995.
[10] TEMKIN S., DOBBINS R.A., Attenuation and
Dissipation of Sound by Particulate-Relaxation Processes,
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 40 (2), 317-324, 1966.
[11] TRAINEAU J.C., KUENTZMANN P., PREVOST
M., TARRIN P., DELFOUR A., Particle Size Distribution
Measurements in a Subscale Motor for the Ariane 5 Solid
Rocket Booster, AIAA/ASME/ASEE 28th Joint
Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Nashville, TN, July 6-
8, 1992.
[12] SALITA M., Quench Investigation of A12O3
Formation from Solid Rocket Propellants (part IV) :
Analysis of Data, 25th JANNAF Combustion Meeting,
Oct. 1988.
[13] VUILLOT F., Ariane 5 MPS - Combustion Stability
Assessment - Theoretical Model: Subtask TL7 Validation
of Acoustic Balance Improved Code - Preliminary Report.
ONERA RT 12/6133 EY, July 1991.
[14] TARRIN P., PREVOST M., TRAINEAU J. C.,
Experimental Low and Medium Frequency Determination
of Solid Propellants Pressure-Coupled Response Function,
colloque CNES/ONERA sur le Fonctionnement des
Moteurs a Propergol Solide Segmented pour Lanceurs
Spatiaux, Chatillon, 8-9 dec. 1992 (also AIAA 94-3043).
[15] GONTHffiR B., HISS A., Ballistic Anomaly Study in
a Composite Propellant Nozzleless Booster, AIAA 94 -
3195, 30th AIAA/SAE/ASME/ASEE Joint Propulsion
Conference, Indianapolis, IN, June 27-29,1994.
[16] CROWE C.T., The State-of-the-Art in the
Development of Numerical Models for Dispersed Phase
Flows, Proceeding of The International Conference on
Multiphase Flows '91 - Tsukuba, September 24-27, 1991.
[17] MARBLE F.E., Dynamics of Dusty Gases, Ann, Rev.
FluidMech. 2,397-446, 1970.
[18] CLIFT R., GRACE J.R., WEBER M.E., Bubbles,
Drops and Particles, Academic Press, New York, 1978.
[19] RUDINGER G., Fundamentals and Applications of
Gas-Particle Flow, in Flow of Solid Particles in Gases,
AGARDograph n°222,1976.
[20] MORFOUACE V., TISSIER P.-Y., Simulation
Diphasique des Instabilites Generees par Emission
Tourbillonnaire dans un Moteur a Propergol Solide,
JournSes R & T du CNES sur le Fonctionnement des
Moteurs a Propergol Solide Segmentes pour Lanceurs
Spatiaux, Paris, June 26-28,1995.
[21] SWANSON R.C., TURKEL E., On Central-
Difference and Upwind Schemes, J. Comput. Phys. 101,
292-306, 1992.
[22] JAMESON A., SCHMIDT W., TURKEL E.,
Numerical Solutions of the Euler Equations by Finite
Volume Methods Using Runge-Kutta Time-Stepping
Schemes, AIAA 81-1259, AIAA 14th Fluid and Plasma
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[23] SHU C.W., OSHER S., Efficient Implementation of
Essentially Non-Oscillatory Shock-Capturing Schemes, J.
Comput. Phys. 77,439-471, 1988.
 Figure I - Schematic diagram of the Clxb setup (dimensions are in mm).

0.030 .1 i i i 1 i ' i i 1 ' ' ' ' 1 ' ' '"''1 ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '-

0.025

0.020 -

s,a 0.015

0.010 1 ••''' -"""' ':

\ / „' -.- ALp,(S%-5fira) ;

0.005 7V' x " ' —— Al A (5 % - 50 fim) :

:
'>>v-r-^ , :
0.000
0 2 4 10 12 14 16 18
eb (mm) frequency (Hz)
Figure 2 - Critical frequencies in the Clxb as a function of Figure 3 - Dimensionless paniculate damping coefficient
the web thickness burned. for various sizes and mass fractions.

PCll PCI2 PCU PCI4 PC1J Kit

PC3I PO4 rCM

20

p+p 15

CONDITIONER
A/D
CONVERTER

BANDPASS —•— 02«4 (Butalite)

FILTER O5t(t.lbir/V) — - 05/94 (Butalamine 59b)
— - 07/94 (Bulalamine 10%)

f\~
IU 1!M G>IM(l.«b>r/V) 2 3
time (s)

Figure 4 - Position of transducers along the chamber and Figure 5 - Operating pressure in the Clxb setup recorded
data acquisition scheme during three tests
 PAV(mbar) PAR (mbar)
200 I | I I I | ' ' '
150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
0 2 4 6 10 12 14 16 18

200
150
100
50
0
1
-50
-100
-150 l=l-56s t=3.89s
t i iI i t ' I i t iI it i I i ' I . i i I i t .I
-200
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

200 ,i,i, ' ' ' 1 ' ' ' 1 ' ' ' 1 ' ' '=
150 ~H^£
100
50
0
1 -50
-100
t=0.90s t=3.!l»
-150 ;
-200 ,,,i, , 1, , , , , , 1 , , , 1 , , , 1 , , 1 I I I 1 t I t i:
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
eb(mm)

Figure 6 - Unsteady pressure component recorded during three tests at the head end and at the aft end

PAY pen PC12 PC13

0.006

0.002

0.000
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)
PC14 PC15 PC16 PAR

1
ta

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)

Figure 7 - Waterfall plots for each position (exemple provided by the test 05/94 with Butalamine 5 %)

9
 02/94 - Butalite 05/94 • Butalamine 5 % 07/94 - Butalamine 10 %
0.010

0.000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)
0.010 1 1 , 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0.000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)
I .1111>.,,,,.., ... 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 | I 1 I 1 | 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 | ... 1| ! 1

30
|

• i^3ils;::: * r i
25 ~ 1

I 20
j * — ^~
E b ^ - • * *: : *
r o - * -
S. 15 r -: # *
IX : o : . . o
-?! 10 o° r O o -
0 0 ;
c3 o 2 - I
<i * O ^ • \ ° * o :
* *
: * : - -
:
o ,, , 1 , , , , 1, , , , 1 , , , , , , , , 1 , , , , 1 , , , ,1 ,r •i . i I , , 1» 1 , , , , 1 . . . , 1 , i i , 1 , , , , 1 , , i , 1 ii -, , , , 1 , , , , 1 , , , , 1 , . , , 1 , , , , 1 , , , , 1 , , , , 1 , ;
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
position (mm) position (mm) position (mm)
PAY
07/94: Butalamine 10 %

Figure 9 - Comparison of ^2 rms amplitudes between

Figure 8 - Waterfall plots and pressure oscillation levels the first (solid lines) and the third generatrice (dashed
lines) for three positions: from the darkness to the
brightness, PC12/PC32, PC14/PC34, PCI6/PC36

10
 I I II1 I I II II , , . I, , , , II 0030
7 3 0.025
718
0.020
703
0.015

0.010

0.005 1406
i 2109 1437 2155
J\ , \ : , ,JL| . , , i | I, , , | i.J j. i-j L I i.i i • I . i i i I i
0.000
0.030
703
0.025

0.020

0.015
703
0.010
713
0.005
1406 2100 2803: 14Ifi 1406
0.000
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)
a) b)

0.030

0.025

0.020 703
718
0.015

0.010

0.005 1406
1«7 2155
0.000 • I i . iM. i i i i I 1-1 i i I i i i i- • •Ll ..L , , I 1.1 I . I

0.030

0.025

0.020

0.015

0.010 703
0.005
1406
0.000 300 400 600 700
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 x(mm)
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)
c) d)
Figure JO - Single-phase Clxbflow (eb=13.5mm). Pressure spectral analysis a) PAY, b) PC2, c) PC6 and pressure oscillation levels: d)
 0.60

0.50

0.40

a
0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00
10'' 10° 10' 103 """ 10" 10" 10' 10'
COTV' tot/
Figure 11 - Propagation of an acoustic wave. Dimensionless attenuation and dispersion versus Stokes number

0.004 25 I ' I >' I I ' ' ' I I ' • ' I

20
0.003 -

15
0.002 -
10

0.001 -

0.000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
frequency (Hz) x (mm)

Figure 12 - Two-phase Clxbflow (eb=13.5mm). a) Pressure spectral analysis performed on PAV, b) Pressure oscillation levels

12
Figure 13 - Time sequence of vorticity field during one period of the first longitudinal mode (Bulalite)

a)

Figure 14 - Panicle bulk density : a) D=5\im, b) D=20\un, c) D=75\un

Figure 15 - Vorticity field and particle bulk density (Butalainine 5 %)

13