PROPELLANT STRESS RELIEF GROOVE FOR THE TITAN-IV SOLID ROCKET MOTOR UPGRADE

A method has been developed to design a propellant stress relief groov e (SRG) for solid rocket motors. The method considers a time-dependent pressure distribution in both burn-back and burn-forward analyses and allows a desired bondline stress condition to be incorporated into th e SRG design. Application of the method to obtain an improved propella nt SRG for the Titan IV solid rocket motor upgrade (SRMU) is illustrat ed in this paper. The improved propellant SRG obtained from this metho d for the Titan IV SRMU provides significant enhancement in the propel lant structural margin of safety throughout motor firing.