Modelling and Simulation of propellant flow for extrusion die design optimisation

Abstract

The modelling and simulation of the flow of a propellant mix through a geometrically accurate extrusion die has been successfully carried out. This, together with the use of realistic material properties for the characterisation of the propellant material, has laid the basis for studying the performance of extrusion die designs. A series of die design optimisation iterations have been carried out. The results of certain significant stages in the iterative cycle have been presented, showing the effect of the design modifications on various design parameters. As the process of optimisation is continuous, a hitherto optimised design has been presented and evaluated against the performance of the original design. It has been shown, in terms of the design optimisation criteria, that the optimised design provides a significant improvement compared to the original designs