Vorticity generation and acoustic resonance of simulated solid rocket motor chamber with high wave number wall injection

An asymptotic technique is integrated with computational solution development to describe the generation and evolution of intense unsteady vorticity and the accompanying temperature response in a model of solid rocket motor (SRM) chamber with low Mach number, weakly viscous internal flow. The chamber considered here has a rectangular cross-section, has to equally permeable walls, closed at the head end, and is opened at the downstream end. An initially steady internal flow from steady sidewall injection is generated. Then an additional transient sidewall mass injection with different wave numbers at non-resonance and resonance frequencies is imposed on the generated steady one. This mechanism is used to simulate the transient propellant combustion occurring on the sidewall in a real SRM chamber. The analytical approach is based on the reduced form of the Navier–Stokes using asymptotic technique. The results show that unexpectedly large transient shear stresses and temperature gradients are created at the sidewall of the chamber at resonance frequencies and low wave numbers. A comparison between the analytical, computational and experimental results is performed.