Joint Army Navy NASA Air Force

Mission Area I: Ignition and Combustion of Gun Propellants

Experimental and modeling studies of ignition, flamespreading, and combustion of solid propellants in guns, mortars and novel gas generators are considered. These studies include the investigation of combustion temperature sensitivity, transient combustion, and gun barrel erosion under gun chamber conditions. Burn rate measurements and techniques, novel gun propelling charge concepts, interior ballistics of grain/stick/disk/consolidated and traveling charges are also considered. Innovative ignition systems, novel chemical igniter and propellant formulations, experimental and analytical techniques to support the production of gun propellants and igniter materials, muzzle flash and blast, mechanical behavior and integrity of propellants in dynamic pressure wave environments, combustion behavior of thermally and mechanically damaged propellant, modeling and studies of deterred propellants, improved gun erosion and ballistic efficiencies through propellant formulations are among the many topics included in this mission area. Papers on gun propellant ignition and combustion and propellant vulnerability will be considered for joint CS/PSHS sessions.

Specialist Sessions:

This year two specialist sessions are being planned for “Chemical Kinetics of Solid Propellants Used in Guns” and “Gun Ballistic Simulators.” These sessions will feature an invited keynote speaker of national prominence and will be followed by technical papers submitted in response to this call. Please indicate your desire to be included in the specialist sessions in the body of your abstract. The sesssions will only be held if sufficient papers are submited.

Mission Area II: Solid Propellants and Combustion

• Decomposition, Ignition, Kinetics, Combustion, and Extinguishment of Ingredients and Solid Rocket Propellants: Decomposition of ingredients and propellants (including kinetics, mechanisms, microstructure, and thermochemistry of thermal decomposition); ignition of ingredients and propellants (including ignition mechanisms, ignition transients, igniter designs, especially smokeless igniters, and new problems associated with ignition); combustion of ingredients and propellants (including burn rate, pressure exponent, and temperature sensitivity; understanding the microstructural combustion zone structure, chemistry, and heat release; effect of motor environment, including spin on combustion; transient burning; combustion of fuel rich propellants; analytical modeling including detailed kinetic studies); hazard initiation of propellants (including inadvertent ignition and effects of high burn rate); methods of extinguishing propellants and implementing thrust termination. Of special interest is how these processes are related to new energetic ingredients and how this knowledge may be used to design new propellants that meet more demanding performance, insensitive munitions, and life cycle requirements. (Papers on thermal decomposition ignition and combustion will be considered for joint CS/PSHS sessions.)
• Failure Analysis of Solid Rocket Motors: Combustion analyses including ignition, flame propagation, burning in cracks and defects, burnback, and flow behavior in support of accident investigations and failure analyses of solid rocket motors. (Papers in this area will be considered for joint CS/PSHS sessions.)
• Solid Rocket Propellant Combustion Instability: Development, laboratory, and analytical advancements. Specific topics of interest include: combustion response of low smoke propellants; velocity coupled instability; nonlinear instability; instability at high pressures; motor pulsing; mean flow and acoustics interactions; L* instability; high frequency instability in low smoke motors; combustion response function measurement techniques; analytical methods for predicting propellant response functions and motor stability.
• Metal Combustion: Behavior of metallic ingredients with special emphasis on nano-particle metals in solid rocket motors is sought. Individual areas of interest include: ignition and burning rate of metal particles or droplets; metal combustion in high density propellants; effects of metal combustion on motor stability and performance; particle phase and size change phenomena; surface melt, agglomeration, and filigree formation; metal combustion in fuel-rich propellants and metal combustion in propellants without ammonium perchlorate; methods for obtaining in situ particle size measurements.
• Combustion, Prediction, Performance, and Other Topics in Solid Rocket Motor Behavior: The combustion related motor behavior and the application of analytical models, experimental research, and subscale testing to their solution. Methodology for standardizing experimental measurements, measurement uncertainties, analytical prediction, computer code verification, correlation, extrapolation, and flight confirmation of performance of solid and liquid rocket, missile and space propulsion systems. Papers on grain design and ballistic modeling are also sought. Behavior in conventional ballistic, tactical, low smoke, controllable, spin-stabilized, ducted, nozzleless motors and gas generators are appropriate subjects for presentation, as are methods for calculating combustion chamber flowfields and their interaction with the motor structural components.
• Solid Rocket IHPRPT Combustion Technologies: Advancements in the understanding of state-of-the-art in combustion technology in solid rocket motors, modeling, and analysis techniques, funded by IHPRPT and/or UR&D programs are sought. Advancements in solid propellant combustion are of interest and its impact on selection of case, nozzle, and insulation materials or propellant ingredients. Papers on new or improved methods of thermal, structural, and fluid analysis and improved motor performance prediction and evaluation as related to combustion technology are also solicited.

Mission Area III: Explosive Performance/Enhanced Blast

Investigations related to the phenomena associated with detonations are sought. Topics ranging from fundamental studies of the mechanism of detonation and combustion to technology development efforts are appropriate for this area. Experimental, theoretical, and computational studies are encouraged that address diverse subjects including; detonation properties, metal driving, enhanced blast, Chem/Bio defeat, target response, underwater blast, and blast protection. Papers elucidating how new or existing energetic materials and/or novel munitions designs can be exploited are of interest. New experimental techniques, advanced diagnostics and new modeling capabilities that are applicable to the dynamic conditions inherent in detonation events are of interest to this community. Reports of propellant technologies that are applicable to explosive performance are also encouraged.

Of particular interest to this mission area are enhanced blast technologies. Investigations of combustion of detonation products, added fuels, and reactive material dispersal for enhancing blast effects in open-air and various confined structures are sought. Targets of interest include tunnels, caves, multi-room structures, and blast chambers. Papers reporting experimental, theoretical, and computational efforts specifically geared toward understanding the non-ideal, post-detonation energy release phenomena aru requested. Papers concerning enhanced blast technologies that exploit novel explosive formulations, non-detonative energetic materials, and munitions designs are of interest.

The Explosive Performance Mission area will hold its inaugural Town Hall function to discuss comments and suggestions concerning current and future directions, new ideas for panels, specialist sessions, possible workshop topics, or any other topics of interest to this community.

Mission Area IV: Airbreathing Combustion

Airbreathing Combustion: Theoretical and experimental investigations of subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic combustion phenomena for airbreathing systems (including small or expendable turbojet engines). Specific topics of interest include: analytical and experimental (including CFD) determination of combustor flowfield characteristics; connected-pipe testing, freejet testing, and scaling analyses to free-flight conditions; experiments and analyses relating to ignition, mixing and combustion in liquid-fuel, gel/slurry-fuel, and solid-fuel ramjets, gas generator (ducted rocket) combustors, scramjets, and combined cycle engines; the use of ignition and combustion enhancement techniques; studies of liquid and gel/slurry fuel injection, spray formation, vaporization, and combustion processes; the measurement and analysis of combustion instability phenomena; investigation of the formulation, properties, and combustion of high energy-density single- and multi-phase fuels, including boron and other metal-burning slurries and gels; fundamental investigations of airbreathing combustion. (Papers in this area will be considered for joint CS/APS sessions.)

Mission Area V: Combustion Diagnostics

This area seeks to bring together the non-intrusive flow field diagnostics and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) communities to create an interaction beneficial to both. Papers are sought from the flow field diagnostics community on the development and implementation of new or existing instrumentation relevant to any combustion problem. Emphasis is placed on methods producing data required for code verification. Similar papers are sought from the computational community emphasizing measurement needs and uncertainties required for verification of existing CFD codes. This interaction is expected to result in development of new instrumentation for combustion research, methods designed specifically for high confidence measurements of critical CFD parameters, and new approaches for creating computational models.

Mission Area VI: Liquid, Hybrid and Novel Propellants Combustion

• Combustion Dynamics of Liquid and Gaseous Rocket Propellants: Theoretical and experimental studies of steady and unsteady combustion phenomena in propulsion systems using liquid or gaseous propellants. Areas of interest include: transient system or process analysis; characterization of the physical and chemical processes involved in combustion (e.g., injection, mixing, atomization and vaporization, chemical kinetics, film cooling, reactive stream separation, chamber wall boundary flow, nozzle flow, and supersonic combustion); performance, heat transfer, and cooling prediction methods for subcomponents, components, and assemblies to include: CFD approaches; stability prediction models, (e.g., new models, critiques and/or evaluations of existing models, experimental verification, propellant characterization); development and application of new instrumentation techniques applicable to spray characterization and measurement of species, temperature, velocity, etc.; subsystem effects on stability (e.g., acoustic cavities, slot liners, nozzles); feedback control, or other adaptive methods of stabilizing liquid engines; stability rating techniques; validity of subscale stability studies.
• Combustion Dynamics of Monopropellant, Bipropellant, and Hybrid Propulsion Systems: Theoretical and experimental studies of steady and unsteady combustion phenomena in propulsion systems using liquid monopropellants and bipropellants, liquid oxidizers and solid fuels. Areas of interest include injection, mixing, analytical models of combustion and fuel regression rate, ignition system design, and simulation of combustor flows.
• Combustion Dynamics of Hydrogen Peroxide (HP): Theoretical and experimental studies of combustion phenomena in propulsion systems using HP. Areas of interest include: effect of stabilizers and additives on longevity and reactivity of HP; development of advanced catalysts and catalytic devices for HP decomposition; direct energy conversion including fuel cells, thermionics, and thermoelectrics; containment strategies mitigating decomposition over time using advanced materials; manufacture and chemical enrichment of HP; historical usage of HP in propulsion applications.
• Combustion for Underwater Propulsion: Theoretical and experimental studies, numerical modeling, and simulation of steady and unsteady combustion phenomena in propulsion systems for underwater vehicles. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): experimental determination and numerical simulation of combustor flows; underexpanded reacting jets and their mixing, entrainment, and transport characteristics; transients in combustion processes (e.g., ignition, quenching, acoustic oscillations in jets, reverse shocks, coherent turbulent structures in fuel-product baths); experimental studies of non- or slowly-reacting similarity systems; combustion similitude, model development, and verification; radiation and other heat transfer effects; behavior of multiphase and multiple, immiscible liquid-phase constituents in combustors; shock, turbulent mixing, and chemical kinetics interactions; diagnostic measurements, simulation, and combustion instrumentation for underwater propulsion systems.