Virtual prototyping of solid propellant rockets

Researchers seek a detailed, whole-system simulation of solid propellant rockets under normal and abnormal operating conditions. A virtual prototyping tool for solid propellant rocket motors based on first principles models of rocket components and their dynamic interactions meets this goal. Given a design specification (geometry, materials, and so on), we hope to predict the entire system´s resulting collective behavior with sufficient fidelity to determine both nominal performance characteristics and potential weaknesses or failures. Such a response tool could explore the space of design parameters much more quickly, cheaply, and safely than traditional build-and-test methods. The article is a progress report on a project to design such a virtual prototyping tool for SRMs (solid rocket motors).