Post by Eliaz Queric

Last month, I had the opportunity to work on the preliminary design of a 100 kN solid rocket motor as part of an advanced project from Space Propulsion course from Politecnico di Milano. Our objective was to design a solid propellant rocket motor and to focus on the nozzle throat heat transfer characterization, combining propulsion, thermodynamics and thermal engineering. Some of the technical work included: • Designing a multi-segment BATES grain for a quasi-neutral thrust profile. • Performing NASA CEA thermochemical analyses. • Developing an internal ballistics model accounting for losses. • Implementing Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate uncertainties & robustness. • Assessing erosive burning using both Mukunda–Paul and Lenoir–Robillard correlations. • Designing a water-cooled nozzle jacket & integrating ceramic Thermal Barrier Coatings.