PROPELLANT STRESS RELIEF GROOVE FOR THE TITAN-IV SOLID ROCKET MOTOR UPGRADE

A method has been developed to design a propellant stress relief groove (SRG) for solid rocket motors. The method considers a time-dependent pressure distribution in both burn-back and burn-forward analyses and allows a desired bondline stress condition to be incorporated into the SRG design. Application of the method to obtain an improved propellant SRG for the Titan IV solid rocket motor upgrade (SRMU) is illustrated in this paper. The improved propellant SRG obtained from this method for the Titan IV SRMU provides significant enhancement in the propellant structural margin of safety throughout motor firing.