Acoustic Combustion Instability

A discussion with 10 refs of combustion instability in solid-proplnt rocket engines. Two different types of instability are considered acoustic and non-acoustic instability... 

The most important parameter in the analysis of pressure-coupled combustion instability is the acoustic admittance Y, which is the ratio of the amplitude of the acoustic velocity V to the amplitude of the acoustic pressure amplitude of the acoustic velocity V to the amplitude of the acoustic pressure P ... 

T. Poinsot, A. Trouve, D. Veynante, S. Candel, and E. Esposito. Vortex driven acoustically coupled combustion instabilities. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 177 265-292, 1987. 

The fundamentals of combustion instability are presented by G. Searby in Chapter 5.1 and phenomena examined by him fall into two categories instability of flame fronts and thermo-acoustic instabilities. Each category can be subdivided further, and these are discussed. 

In Chapter 5.2, S. Candel, D. Durox, and T. Schuller consider certain aspects of perturbed flame dynamics. The relation between combustion instability and noise generation is described by reference to systematic experiments. The data indicate that acoustic emission is determined by flame dynamics. On this basis, combustion noise can be linked with combustion instability. 

Crump, J. E., K. C. Schadow, V. Yang, and F. E. C. Culick. 1986. Longitudinal combustion instabilities in ramjet engines Identification of acoustic modes. J. Propulsion Power 2 105-9. 

Bloxsidge, G.J., A. P. Dowling, N. Hooper, and P. J. Langhorne. 1987. Active control of an acoustically driven combustion instability. J. Theoretical Applied Mechanics. Special issue, supplement to vol. 6. 

When an energetic material burns in a combustion chamber fitted with an exhaust nozzle for the combustion gas, oscillatory combustion occurs. The observed frequency of this oscillation varies widely from low frequencies below 10 Hz to high frequencies above 10 kHz. The frequency is dependent not only on the physical and chemical properties of the energetic material, but also on its size and shape. There have been numerous theoretical and experimental studies on the combustion instability of rocket motors. Experimental methods for measuring the nature of combustion instability have been developed and verified. However, the nature of combustion instability has not yet been fully understood because of the complex interactions between the combustion wave of propellant burning and the mode of acoustic waves. 

Combustion of a propellant in a rocket motor accompanied by high-frequency pressure oscillation is one of the most harmful phenomena in rocket motor operation. There have been numerous theoretical and experimental studies on the acoustic mode of oscillation, concerning both the medium-frequency range of 100 Hz-1 kHz and the high-frequency range of 1 kHz-30 kHz. The nature of oscillatory combustion instability is dependent on various physicochemical parameters, such... 

Fig. 13.21 shows another example of oscillatory burning of an RDX-AP composite propellant containing 0.40% A1 particles. The combustion pressure chosen for the burning was 4.5 MPa. The DC component trace indicates that the onset of the instability is 0.31 s after ignition, and that the instability lasts for 0.67 s. The pressure instability then suddenly ceases and the pressure returns to the designed pressure of 4.5 MPa. Close examination of the anomalous bandpass-filtered pressure traces reveals that the excited frequencies in the circular port are between 10 kHz and 30 kHz. The AC components below 10 kHz and above 30 kHz are not excited, as shown in Fig. 13.21. The frequency spectrum of the observed combustion instability is shown in Fig. 13.22. Here, the calculated frequency of the standing waves in the rocket motor is shown as a function of the inner diameter of the port and frequency. The sonic speed is assumed to be 1000 m s and I = 0.25 m. The most excited frequency is 25 kHz, followed by 18 kHz and 32 kHz. When the observed frequencies are compared with the calculated acoustic frequencies shown in Fig. 13.23, the dominant frequency is seen to be that of the first radial mode, with possible inclusion of the second and third tangential modes. The increased DC pressure between 0.31 s and 0.67 s is considered to be caused by a velocity-coupled oscillatory combustion. Such a velocity-coupled oscillation tends to induce erosive burning along the port surface. The maximum amplitude of the AC component pressure is 3.67 MPa between 20 kHz and 30 kHz. - ...

N) E.W. Price, "Recent Advances in Solid Propellant Combustion Instability , Ibid, pp 101-113 O) G.A. Marxman C.E. Wooldridge, "Finite-Amplitude Axial Instability in Solid-Rocket Combustion , Ibid, pp 115-27 P) W.A. Sirignano, "A Theory of Axial-Mode Shock-Wave Oscillations in a Solid-Rocket Combustor ,Ibid, pp 129-37 Q) B.T.Zinn C.T. Saveli, "A Theoretical Study of Three-Dimensional Combustion Instability in Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines , Ibid, pp 139-47 R) R.J. Priem E.J. Rice, "Combustion Instability with Finite Mach Number Flow and Acoustic Liners , Ibid, pp 149-59 S) M.W. Thring, "Combustion Oscillations in Industrial Combustion Chambers , Ibid, pp 163-68... 

D.W. Rice, CombstnFlame 8(1), 21-8 (1964) CA 60, 14325 (1964) (Effect of compositional variables upon oscillatory combustion of solid rocket propellants) N ) R.W. Hart F.T. McClure, "Theory of Acoustic Instability in Solid Propellant Rocket Combustion , lOthSympCombstn (1965), pp 1047-65 N2) E.W. Price, "Experimental Solid Rocket Combustion Instability , Ibid, pp 1067-82 Qi) R.S. Levine, "Experimental Status of High Frequency Liquid Rocket Combustion Instability , Ibid, pp 1083-99 O2) L. Crocco,... 

Priem E J. Rice, "Combustion Instability with Finite Mach Number Flow and Acoustic Liners , Ibid, pp 149-59 20) M. Barrere... 

Combustion Stability. Although burning without acoustic oscillations is partly a motor design concern, the propellant may be modified by the addition of refractory particles to dampen such vibrations. If uncorrected, pressure oscillations from combustion instability may be large enough to destroy a motor during firing. 

Acoustics play a major role in reacting flows by coupling with heat release, they are the source of a major problem in many combustion devices combustion instabilities [379 340] which can induce high vibration levels and, in extreme cases, destroy combustion hardware in a few seconds. 

Reacting flows are compressible flows. They exhibit hydrodynamic instabilities (absolute and convective type [297]) but since acoustics are an intrinsic feature of combustion chambers, reacting flows are also submitted to acoustic / combustion instabilities which can be extremely strong [379 270 340]. These waves are often coupled to hydrodynamic modes. 

A useful quantity to study combustion instabilities is the acoustic energy defined by [340] ... 

C. Martin, L. Benoit, Y. Sommerer, F. Nicoud, and T. Poinsot. Les and acoustic analysis of combustion instability in a staged turbulent swirled combustor. AIAA Journal, 44(4) 741-750, 2006. 

The phenomenon of unstable combustion results from a self-amplifying interaction between combustion processes and the. acoustic oscillations of the gas within the rocket motor. The unexpected appearance of combustion instability in any rocket generally terminates its mission thru motor case rupture from overpressure, disruption of guidance systems by severe vibration, or thrust malalignment. Both axial mode and transverse mode instabilities are observed (Ref 45). In the case of the transverse mode the characteristic wave time is usually that required to travel radially around the proplnt cavity whereas the characteristic time for the axial mode is the time for the wave to travel from end to end in the combustion chamber. Double-base proplnts predominantly are prone to transverse wave instabilities and infrequently to those in the axial mode, while composite proplnts appear to go unstable mostly in the axial mode. In the case of transverse instability chamber pressures have been known o double whereas in axial mode instabilities artificially induced by pulsing the chamber pressure at lOOOpsi, the pressure excursion may reach 300—400psi. A review of recent theoretical combustion modeling for combustion instability has been made by Price (Ref 47)... 

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