A model of combustion monopropellants (AP) with complex gas phase kinetics

Abstract

The results of a model of the combustion of monopropellants, using ammonium perchlorate as the specific example and treating the complex gas phase kinetics and diffusion by the trace diffusion approximation, are presented in this paper. The species considered are HClO₄, NH₃, ClO₃, NH₂, ClOH, HNO, Cl, O, NO, N₂O, N₂, Cl₂, ClO, HCl, O₂ and H₂O, and are expected to participate in 14 reversible reactions. Kinetic data for the reactions are based on the works of Ermolin, Guirao, and Williams and Jacobs and Pearson. The time-dependent governing equations are solved by the method of lines, and the results for mass burn rate, pressure index and temperature sensitivity are compared with those of experiments. Some perturbational calculations show that inclusion of NO₂ and ClO₂, in palce of atomic oxygen, leads to more realistic predictions for mass fractions and burning rate.