Porous plate analog burner study of composite solid propellant flame structure

Abstract

A porous plate burner system for studying the structure and interaction of diffusion flames from adjacent unlike sources of oxidizer to simulate the behavior of solid propellant flames is presented. The passage of oxidizer gases through ports of determined diameters represents decomposing oxidizer crystals, and are adjustable for various oxidizer/fuel ratio experiments. Tests with air, ethane, oxygen, and oxygen-air mixtures are described, with parameters of flow rate, oxygen/fuel ratio, and pressure. Coarse ports are found to be oxidizer rich, while fine ports are stoichiometric. More heat feedback is found with fine ports, indicating that fine particle propellant systems burn faster unless fuel allocation is such that the reduced temperature overcomes the reduced diffusion length. Further observations on the interactions of flames are reported.