Effects of Entrained Water and Strong Turbulence on Afterburning Within Solid Rocket Motor Plumes

摘要

During the first few seconds of the space shuttle trajectory, the solid rocket boosters will be in the proximity of the launch pad. Because of the launch pad structures and the surface of the Earth, the turbulent mixing experienced by the exhaust gases will be greatly increased over that for the free-flight situation. In addition, a system will be present, designed to protect the lifting vehicle from launch structure vibrations, which will inject large quantities of liquid water into the hot plume. This report studies the effects of these two phenomena on the temperatures, chemical composition, and flow field present in the afterburning solid rocket motor exhaust plumes of the space shuttle. The study includes results from both a computational model of the afterburning and supporting measurements from Titan III exhaust plumes taken at Kennedy Space Center with infrared scanning radiometers.