Characterization of solid propellants by damped combustion oscillations

The linearized Denison-Baum solid propellant combustion model is characterized by two parameters (alpha, A). Over a large portion of the alpha, A space for which stable combustion is predicted, the return of a perturbed burning rate to the steady state takes the path of damped oscillations. This paper provides explicit analytical expressions for alpha and A in terms of the frequency and attenuation rate of these oscillations, which can be measured directly. This provides a previously unexploited rout toward the evaluation of the acoustic admittance, which the model had previously expressed in terms of alpha and A. (C) 2011 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.