Experimental analysis of characteristic of SRM insulator eroded by highly concentrated particles

For lack of effective experimental equipment, no report, to our best knowledge, has been published in the open literature on the eroding effect of highly concentrated particles on SRM (Solid Rocket Motor) insulator. Our aim is to use the high acceleration convergent tube motor developed by the 2nd and 3rd authors to provide such eroding effect. In the full paper, we discuss our experimental results in much detail; here we give only a briefing. Experimental results show that the depth of charred insulator material in eroded region was thinner than that in normal region and that the shear-resisting capability of charred layer of silica phenolic resin material was weak. Through exploration of the mechanism of erosion, we believe we can draw the important conclusion that the erosion of highly concentrated particles damages the charred layer of insulator severely. Based on the three-dimensional two-phase numerical method, we developed a data analysis technique that can provide abundant ablation information from just a small amount of test data. We also present two expressions of engineering significance; (1) the formula relating the loss of insulator material to particle kinetic energy and track angle; (2) the relationship between erosion rate and particle state.