Research on the Dynamic Model of Plasma Ignition Process of Solid Propellant

In decades, the plasma ignition technology has drawn much attention due to its advantages. However, the numerical research on the plasma ignition of solid propellants is still limited. In this paper, a 1-D transient plasma ignition model of solid propellant is developed. A simplified chemical reaction mechanism of XM39 is employed in the model to explore the solid phase and gas phase chemical reactions and species transportations in the gas phase. The expansion process of the plasma jet is also investigated. The predicted surface pressure and ignition delay are compared to the experimental results. Good agreement with these data provides the necessary validation of the presented model. In the model, the calculated temperature profiles and the mass fraction distribution of the gas hexogen are used to characterize the reaction zone. In addition, the mass fraction distributions of CH₂O and HCN are used to estimate the possibilities of different reaction paths.