Gentlemen:
A summary of key technical results and conclusions from my High Power Rocketry Magazine tech article "Erosive Burning Design Criteria for High Power and Experimental/Amateur Solid Rocket Motors", which was published in the January 2005 (Vol. 36, No. 1) issue of High Power Rocketry, is now on the High Power Rocketry web site at:
A unique approach of using combined core Mach number/core mass flux erosive burning design criteria is presented, design criteria which are applicable whether the motor propellant is sensitive to velocity-based or mass flux-based erosive burning. The easy to implement design criteria allow high power and experimental/amateur rocketeers to determine the maximum length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio for a motor design, or the minimum diameter for a motor core to maximize propellant loading, for either non-erosive burning or max recommended erosive burning.
An innovative constant core mass flux core design is also presented that maximizes the L/D of a motor design, or minimizes the motor port area (core cross-sectional area) for a given motor length. Design criteria for the constant core mass flux core design are presented for both non-erosive and max recommended erosive burning. Staggered or tapered cores have been known to help reduce erosive burning in high power and experimental/amateur solid rocket motors, but the constant core mass flux core design minimizes the amount of core staggering and adds some analytical rigor to what is often a "guestimate" on how much to stagger the cores.
Chuck Rogers snipped-for-privacy@aol.com