Modeling of high density polyethylene regression rate in the simulation of hybrid rocket flowfields

Numerical analysis of hybrid rocket internal ballistics is carried out with a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver integrated with a customized gas-surface interaction wall boundary condition and coupled with a radiation code based on the discrete transfer method. The fuel grain wall boundary condition is based on species, mass, and energy conservation equations coupled with thermal radiation exchange and finite-rate kinetics for fuel pyrolysis modeling. Fuel pyrolysis is governed by the convective and radiative heat flux reaching the surface and by the energy required for the propellant grain to heat up and pyrolyze. Attention is focused here on a set of static firings performed with a lab-scale GOX/HDPE motor working at relatively low oxidizer mass fluxes. A sensitivity analysis was carried out on the literature pyrolysis models for HDPE, to evaluate the possible role of the uncertainty of such models on the actual prediction of the regression rate. A reasonable agreement between the measured and computed averaged regression rate and chamber pressure was obtained, with a noticeable improvement with respect to solutions without including radiative energy exchange.