An Analysis of a Simplified Laminar Flame Theory for Solid Propellant Combustion

Abstract

An approximation to the classical laminar flame theory was proposed by Denison and Baum (1961) which eliminates the need for numerical computation of the burning rate eigenvalue. This approximation is particularly useful in the analysis of non-steady state problems. In this paper, the error introduced by the Denison-Baum approximation was examined in a series of comparative parametric calculations using both the rigorous and approximate models. Calculations were made showing the effect of pressure on burning-rate, the effect of energy loss from the surface, and the effect of conditioning temperature. It was concluded that this approximation is perfectly valid for a range of parameters consistent with burning characteristics of typical solid propellants.