Space Shuttle SRM internal flows

Abstract

Flow-visualization techniques were employed in a 1/8-scale model of the Shuttle SRM to investigate the dominant SRM internal flow patterns. The mode included the two aft segments, the aft dome, and the convergent portion of the gimballed nozzle. The effects of 'blowing', resulting from gases produced by the burning propellant, were simulated through the introduction, of a uniform distribution of water along simulated burn-back patterns representing the surface at three different times in a firing. It was found that the effects of vortices shed from protruding inhibitor sections were greatly diminished by the effects of wall injection. It was also found that the extent of circumferential flow resulting from the removal of a portion of protruding inhibitor was limited in scope. Strong circumferential flow in the aft dome was observed when no grain surface was present in the dome. This flow included nozzle-entrance vortices, the occurrence of which probably resulted from interactions between the submerged-nozzle flow and the boundary-layer flow in the aft dome of the case.