Critical Review of Phenomenological Models for Studying Transient Combustion of Solid Propellants

Abstract

A brief review of the existing generalizations of phenomenological model of solid propellants combustion, originally formulated by Ya. B. Zel'dovich in 1942, is presented. The model still remains valid and allows the description of different patterns of solid propellant transient combustion. However, over the years after this formulation was published, several publications appeared in the literature with assumptions that are not justified. Shortcomings of different model options and their limits of applicability are discussed. In fact, in some cases the attempts of model generalization are based on rather strong additional assumptions that lead to narrowing the applicability range of the model.