Practical APCP motor
design for Amateur & High
Power rocketry
What we will be covering:
• The basics & definitions
• Some other considerations
• The process to get the data to input into the
BurnSim program
• Designing motor profiles in BurnSim
What we won’t be covering:
C12H22O11 + 6.29 KNO3 -> 3.80 CO2 + 5.21 CO + 7.79 H2O + 3.07 H2 + 3.14 N2 + 3.00 K2CO3 + 0.27 KOH
2 H2 + O2 <-> 2 H2O
H2O <-> HO + 1/2 H2
O2 <-> 2 O
H2 <-> 2 H
Basic concepts
A solid rocket motor usually consists of a casing, nozzle,
forward closure, a liner and a fuel grain.
Aluminum Motor case
• Aluminum strength rapidly decreases
with increased temperature
• Liner material / heat protection
• Case bonding can be used for thermal
protection
• The forward closure is a component of
the case.
Propellant
The grain behaves like a solid mass, burning in a predictable
fashion and producing exhaust gases. The nozzle dimensions
are calculated to maintain a design chamber pressure, while
producing thrust from the exhaust gases.
• The grain burns at a predictable rate,
given its surface area and chamber
pressure.
• The chamber pressure is determined by
the nozzle orifice diameter and grain
burn rate.
• Allowable chamber pressure is a
function of casing design.
• The length of burn time is determined
by the grain "web thickness".
Common modes of failure in solid rocket motors
include fracture of the grain, failure of bonding to the
casting tube or case bonding, and air pockets in the
grain. All of these produce an instantaneous increase in
burn surface area and a corresponding increase in
exhaust gas production rate and pressure, which may
rupture the casing.
Nozzle
• Directs and accelerate combustion gasses to high
velocities. Provides Choked flow to prevent
catastrophic erosive burning. (Going supersonic in
the propellant core)
• Goal is maximum thrust coefficient with minimum
nozzle weight.
• Nozzle throat area controls combustion chamber
pressure and divergent angle controls thrust
amplification through the coefficient of thrust.
Kn (burning-area to throat-area ratio)
First, it is a general rule that long motors will be
erosive. With a standard bates grain geometry, a large
burning surface area means there will be a lot more
combustion gases flowing, especially at the bottom
grain. A general rule is if you have length/diameter of
>=8 (measuring the propellant itself, not hardware) you
should be concerned. With nominal bates grain
geometries, this is a 5-grain motor.
My motor design process
from the start to finish
Using PROPEL20 spreadsheet workbook, ProPep3, and
BurnSim
Select Propellant formula for characteristics desired
• Simple formula to start
• Colored flame
• Smoke or no smoke
• Fast burn / High thrust / High performance
• Slow burn / Long burning / Long length to diameter
motors
• Packable or pourable
Select the motor size (Impulse, motor case to be used,
etc.)
• Test motor grain size x multiple burns for mix batch
amount
The ‘Batch’ sheet for
mixing your propellant
Mixing the propellant
• HTPB / Binder – fuel
• Plasticizer
• DOA (Dioctyl adipate)
• IDP (Isodecyl Pelargonate)
• Cross linking agent
• Castor Oil
• Bonding Agent
• Tepanol or HX-878
• Surfactant (Surface Acting Agent)
• Lecithin
• Silicon Oil
Metals are fuel (Powdered Aluminum,
Magnesium, Zinc)
• Increases combustion temperature
• Dampens combustion instability
• Magnesium reported to improve low pressure
burning
Burn Rate Modifiers
• Catalyst
• Transition Metal Oxides 0.05% to 1%
such as red Iron Oxide, manganese dioxide,
cupric oxide, chromium oxide, etc.
• Burn Rate Suppressant
• oxamide, ammonium chloride, calcium
carbonate, etc.
Opacifier if needed
Ammonium Perchlorate Oxidizer (AP)
• 90 micron, 200 micron, 400 micron
Curatives (Diisocyanates)
• MDI, IPDI, DDI, HDI, TDI, E744
Vacuum Processing
Cast Propellant & Cure time
Area for propellant
properties tab in the
BurnSim program
Values for C*, (a), (n), Density,
Heat Ratio & Molar Mass are
found in the steps on the
following slides. These are
needed to run motor sims.
Char. ISP value is
automatically filled in
when you enter the
C* value
Measure the actual density of your mixed & cast propellant
Run propellant chemical composition in ProPep
(C Star) value
Molar Mass
Value for heat ratio
Display Results gives next slide data
Top line C* value for small
motors, bottom line C*
value for large motors
Do test burns & get time / pressure values with different Kn
(Propellant surface area to Nozzle throat area ratio)
Use this sheet to
find your Kn ratios
Test burns to get burn times
with different nozzle throat
diameters (Kn)
Two burns times can
get you a basic ‘a’
(BR-coefficient) and
‘n’ (BR-exponent)
Multiple burn
times gives more
accuracy With the last of these values
you can now start to model
motors in the BurnSim
program
Insert nozzle values
here
Insert grain size values
here, click on ‘add’ to
add grains into
Note the
simulation
yellow warning
of approaching
erosion
Cutting the
top grain
almost in
half, and
drilling the
bottom core
larger gets rid
of the erosion
warning
Having no
expansion on the
nozzle shows the
difference having
no thrust
coefficient. It
goes from 38% L
motor to 19% L
Progressive fast burn
Neutral burn profile
On a Moon
burner the core
Progressive/regressive long burn diameter
determines
initial thrust,
the core offset
determines the
peak pressure
This motor will
overpressure on
start up because
of erosion
Larger core on ‘C
slot’ and it will
run well. The
flow of hot
gasses along the
outside of the
motor makes it
harder to
protect the case
from burn-thru
Long motor
design with
progressive
grains using a
slow
propellant.
Notice the
larger cores
on the
bottom two
grains.
Core is a little
small on this
slide, the next
shows a
better sized
core.
High thrust short burn
Under the
‘Action’ menu
you can have
the program
run simulations
to determine
the most
efficient exit
diameter on
the nozzle.
References
• Experimental Composite Propellant by Dr. Terry W.
McCreary, Ph.D.
• Richard Nakka
• Defense Technical Information Center – Naval
Weapons Center papers
• Wikipedia
• Charles E. Rogers
• John S. DeMar
