Full Paper
DOI: 10.1002/prep.201500208
Emulation and Calculation of the Burning Surface of 3D
Grains of Partially Cut Multi-Perforated Stick Propellant
using the Level Set Method
Zhenggang Xiao,*[a] Weidong He,[a] and Fuming Xu[a]
Abstract: In order to calculate the burnt mass fraction of
complex three-dimensional (3D) propellant grains to meet
the requirements of interior ballistic modelling; the level
set method is introduced to emulate and calculate the
burning surface area of partially cut 7-perforated propel-
lant. The surface evolution and simulation of a 3D grain of
partially cut 7-perforated propellant are divided into two
parts: the grain configuration initialization and the level set
calculation of the propellant regression process. Parallel
layer burning is assumed so that the burning surface re-
gresses layer by layer in a direction normal to the surface
until the grain is burnt completely. As the burnt mass frac-
tion increases, the remaining propellant volume decreases
gradually. The level set method easily simulates the sliver-
Keywords: Level set method · Simulation · Burning surface area · Stick propellants · Partially cut
1. Introduction
The partially cut multi-perforated stick propellant was de-
veloped by U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to replace
the slotted stick propellant to obtain a more progressive
and more densely-packed propellant charge system [1].
This high-progressivity/high-density (HPD) geometry em-
ploys multi-perforated sticks with partial transverse cuts at
appropriate distances along their lengths to avoid the in-
ternal pressure built-up. The stick separates into short seg-
ments early in the interior ballistic cycle. As the interior bal-
listic cycle proceeds, the segments separate, tumble, and
behave like conventional granular propellant. In general, all
experimental researches to date indicated that this occurs
after flame spreading is complete [2, 3].
There are a number of reports on the combustion per-
formance and firing tests of partially cut multi-perforated
stick propellants [1–4]. Results showed that improved bal-
listic performance was obtained by using a multi-perforated
partially cut stick propellants in place of the granular and
single perforated stick propellant in gun systems. It might
be possible to achieve a six percent increase in velocity as
predicted from ballistic calculations.
Although the lumped-parameter interior ballistic model-
ing (IBHVG) enabled predicting the performance of granular
propellant charges, it has not provided similarly satisfactory
148 Ó 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
ing process for complex grain geometries. In this way, the
burnt mass fraction of partially cut 7-perforated propellant
grain can be calculated by the level set method for the
entire combustion process. Results show that the level set
method is suitable to capture the burning surface for each
burning step and its related parameters, such as the burn-
ing area, the remaining propellant volume and burnt mass
fraction. More importantly, the level set method gives a pos-
sible solution to the coupling of grain combustion with the
internal fluid simulation by the pressure and velocity. It is
impossible for geometry-based methods to integrate the
internal fluid parameters in an interior ballistic model. Also,
the level set method will benefit substantially the grain
design and lead to improved internal ballistic performance.
simulations for stick propellant gun firings, even the slotted
[5,6] or partially cut stick propellants [2, 3]. Kuo et al. [7,8]
investigated the combustion phenomena of unslotted stick
propellant bundles under simulated gun conditions and es-
tablished a comprehensive two-phase theoretical model for
simulating the combustion and rupture phenomena of
long, unslotted stick propellant beds. It is shown to predict
many important combustion characteristics of stick bun-
dles. The pressure-wave phenomenon with combustion of
the stick-propellant charge was found to be less than that
of conventional multi-perforated granular propellant
charge. Erosive burning and grain rupture are very impor-
tant factors in the progressivity of internal surfaces and
combustion of stick propellant bundles. In order to better
understand the intricate phenomena associated with par-
tially cut multi-perforated stick propellant, the simulation
and calculation of the burning surface and its area is impor-
[a] Z. Xiao, W. He, F. Xu
School of Chemical Engineering
Nanjing University of Science and Technology
200 Xiaolingwei Street
Nanjing 210094, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China
*e-mail: xiaozhg@njust.edu.cn
Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2016, 41, 148 – 153
Calculation of the Burning Surface of 3D Grains of Partially Cut Multi-Perforated Stick Propellant

tant for the determination of combustion rate and interior 2. Level Set Method
ballistic predictions of stick propellant.
The shape function q is introduced in the standard equa-
2.1 Propellants
tion for the fraction of propellant burnt f [9, 10].
The propellant grain to be modelled is partially cut 7-perfo-
ŸðtÞ ¼ ½1¢f ðtÞ¤½1 þ qf ðtÞ¤ ð1Þ rated double-base propellants plasticized with triethylene-
glycol dinitrate (TEGDN) as shown in Figure 1. The burning
The above expression allows us to cover almost any
simple geometry of gun propellants. With the formulation
above, the effect of propellant geometry on the rate of gas
evolution can be mathematically defined. Wurster et al. [11]
offered a fast and easy way to simulate the geometry
changes during the combustion of solid gun propellants
based on the theory of cellular automata. A simulated form
function can be provided for even the most complex
shaped propellants and can be used to simulate closed
vessel pressure build up or as input for standard interior
ballistic codes. However, literature is still scarce on the sim-
ulation and calculation of the burning area of propellant
with complex geometry.
Much effort was devoted to calculate the burning area of Figure 1. Simulated rendering illustration of the initial grain con-
the grain in the field of solid rocket motor design [12–16]. figuration of partially cut 7-perforated TEGDN propellant.
The regression of the grain surface during combustion of
a solid rocket propellant is called “grain burn-back”. Grain
burn-back solutions require handling of moving interfaces. thickness (web size) is 2.4 mm. The length of sample is
In general, the techniques involving moving interfaces fall 30 mm and the distance between two cutting slots is
into two categories as [12]: (1) Interface tracking (Lagran- 10 mm. The propellant is composed of 59 wt-% nitrocellu-
gian), (2) Interface capturing (Eulerian). Recently, front track- lose (NC) containing about 12.97 % nitrogen by weight (de-
ing techniques such as the Volume of Fluids (VOF) method, noted as N %), 29 wt-% nitroglycerine, 10 wt-% triethylene
Fast Marching Method (FMM) and especially the Level Set glycol dinitrateand (TEGDN) and 2 wt-% centralite (C2).
Method (LSM) have become the preferred techniques. The
level set method, which was formalized by Osher and Sethi-
2.2 Burning Surface Calculation Model
an [17], sets and tracks the curvature of the initial front
itself using a signed distance function (SDF). It is a numeri- The main idea of the level set method is as follows.
cal approach to study the evolution of propagating curves. Assume the internal region of propellant grain is W(t), flow
In particular, this method will describe the evolution of channels outside the grain is W̄(t), the burning surface,
a propagating curve or front as it propagates outward which is the interface of W(t) and W̄(t), is G(t). G(t) is
normal to itself. In the combustion of gun propellant, grain a moving interface bounding a region of W(t) in a 3D
regression essentially simplifies to a propagating surface of space. The sign distance function of G(t) is f(x, t). The func-
known speed. Due to this fact, the level set method can be tion f(x, t) is a positive distance in W(t), a negative distance
utilized to propagate and track the burning surface of in W̄(t), and zero on G(t).
a grain over time.
In this article, the instantaneous evolution of a burning
surface during the combustion process of partially cut
multi-perforated stick propellants is simulated and calculat-
ed using the level set method. It allows the calculation of
the burning surface for a grain with high complex geome-
try, for which normal geometry-based methods are inaccu-
rate, and is able to calculate accurately and better under- Since the interface G(t) is represented as the zero level
stand the grain burn-back visually. It is also helpful for the set of function f(x, t), the motion of G(t) can be regarded
determination of the propellant grain dimensions for opti- as an evolution equation for f(x, t) by taking the time de-
mization of the gun performance. rivative of f(x, t) = 0 to yield

Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2016, 41, 148 – 153 Ó 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.pep.wiley-vch.de 149
Full Paper
which can also be described as follows:
!
Ÿt þ n ¡ DŸ ¼ 0 ð4Þ
!
where n is the interface evolving velocity. During the com-
!
bustion process of propellant, n is the normal burning
!
rate. By projecting the velocity n onto the normal direc-
tion of the interface, then
where:
The burning surface of a propellant grain evolving with
a speed of vn along its normal is simulated using the level
set equation (5). Its value is equal to the burning rate u of
propellant.
After solving equation (5), the area of burning surface is
computed by:
where d is the Delta function.
The burning surface is regarded as a boundary between
the phases of solid grain and gas flow in the combustion
chamber. The burning surface for each burning step is cap-
tured by the level set method and the parameters, such as
the burning area, the burning perimeter, and the propellant
volume are obtained by integrating the burning surface at
each burning step.
3. Simulation
The level set method is applicable to any complex propel-
lant shape because the calculation process is not related
with the propellant shape. More importantly, it gives a pos-
sible solution to the coupling of the combustion of the
propellant grain with the internal fluid simulation by pres-
sure and gas velocity, especially in the multiple-phase flow,
which is not dealt with by the classical zero-dimensional in-
terior ballistic model.
The calculation method consists of four steps. First, the
initial geometry model of solid propellant is constructed.
There are many modeling tools used to construct the ge-
ometry data for the propellant grain. Here, the SolidWorks
software package is used to accomplish the design. Since
most CAD software packages have the option of exporting
STereoLithography (STL) files, the STL triangulation format
is selected as the manner in which the arbitrary grain ge-
150 www.pep.wiley-vch.de Ó 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Z. Xiao, W. He, F. Xu
ometry is represented. Second, the geometry data are dis-
cretized into a triangular mesh using a file format conver-
sion tool. Then the computation domain is defined and di-
vided into a grid by calculating the bounding box of the
triangular mesh and assigning a resolution appropriate for
the propellant grain modelled (i.e. taking account of geom-
etry and dimensions). Third, the signed distance field is
computed as the initial value of the level set method from
the grid. The last step is the simulation stage of the level
set method.
During the simulation stage, the level set method is
solved with parallel regression assumption along with the
local normal direction at a constant rate.
The first order Semi-Lagrange method is used to solve
level set equation (5) so that it is stable even with a large
time step. Higher order methods, such as Runge-Kutta,
could be used, but would require more calculation time.
In order to guarantee the calculation convergence, the
dimensions of the formulation grid are specified according
to a Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL)-type condition, which is
described as follows:
where Dt is the time step, u is the burning rate and Dx, Dy,
Dz are the space steps. The combination of the ternate
needs to be selected to make a balance between the level
set calculation efficiency and accuracy. The time step
during the calculation is 10¢5 s. The number of initial mesh
grids is 101 Õ 101 Õ 251.
After solving the equations, with the geometry recon-
structed, it is easy to get the burning area by summing up
the area of all the triangles. Then the rendering technique
can be used to visualize the combustion procedure.
In summary, during the solving process of the level set
method, the burning surface area of a complicated 3D
grain can be calculated without the calculation of a form
function. Also, the instantaneous configuration and volume
can be captured at each moment. All views of the predict-
ed shape of a grain in results can be visualized using soft-
ware such as Tecplot.
4. Results and Discussion
It is assumed that the burning rate is a constant in the sim-
ulation using the level set method. Figure 2 illustrates the
simulated regression evolution of a propellant grain at dif-
ferent times.
As can be seen from Figure 2, it is clear that the surface
will regress until the grain is burnt completely. It is well
known that the burning of propellant is a surface phenom-
enon [18]. The burning rule of propellant obeys the Pio-
bert’s law [19], i.e. the burning surface regresses layer by
layer in a direction normal to the surface. With the increas-
Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2016, 41, 148 – 153
Calculation of the Burning Surface of 3D Grains of Partially Cut Multi-Perforated Stick Propellant

Figure 2. Simulated evolving process of the burning surface of propellant grain at seven different time instances.

Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2016, 41, 148 – 153 Ó 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.pep.wiley-vch.de 151
Full Paper
ing of the burnt mass fraction, the remaining propellant
volume decreased gradually. Also, the silvering process is
easily simulated by the level set method. The layer by layer
burning process is illustrated by the simulation result as
seen in Figure 2. Certainly, the simulated combustion pro-
cedures are just a kind of the ideal circumstance since the
erosive burning and gas flow field is not considered.
The burnt mass fraction of partially cut 7-perfs TEGDN
propellant grain calculated using the level set method is
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Calculated burnt mass fraction of partially cut 7-perforat-
ed TEGDN propellant grain at different time instances.
As seen in Figure 3, the burnt mass fraction of propellant
increases to unity with the passing of the combustion time.
Thus the evolving of propellant volume and surface area
can be calculated according to the above results given the
initial volume is known.
The burning gas mass generation rate [kg s¢1], i.e., deriv-
ative of the mass generated at each time step is as follows.
where 1 is the density of propellant [kg m¢3], A(p) is the
surface area of remaining propellant [m2], u(p) is the burn-
ing rate [m s¢1]. It can be expressed as Equation (9).
uðpÞ ¼ ul pn ð9Þ
where u1 is the burning rate coefficient and n is the pres-
sure exponent.
Thus the time derivative of propellant mass fraction
burnt dy/dt [1 s¢1] is then calculated using the
where V is the initial volume of propellant [m3].
152 www.pep.wiley-vch.de Ó 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Z. Xiao, W. He, F. Xu
During the simulation process of the level set method,
the burning rate is used to control the burning surface ad-
vance speed. In the calculation domain, it is assumed that
the burning rate is the same everywhere at a certain time
instance. Therefore, during the evolving process of the
grain surface with time, the relationship between pressure
and burnt mass fraction can be established through the
calculation process of the level set method. In particular,
for those complex propellant configurations for which cal-
culation of the form function is difficult, it is impossible to
determine the combustion rate by the traditional method
based on the grain geometry. Therefore it is difficult to pre-
dict the ballistic parameter at muzzle using the classic inte-
rior ballistic model. Clearly, the evolution and calculation of
the grain surface area of a complex 3D propellant based on
the level set method is suitable to predict the interior bal-
listic parameters combined with the classic interior ballistic
equations. Also it is helpful to the grain design and optimi-
zation in the charge design process.
4 Conclusions
The burning surface calculation is a critical process in the
interior ballistic prediction of partially cut multi-perforation
propellant. Using the traditional geometry-based form func-
tion method, it is difficult to calculate the combustion rate
because the complete form function is difficult to deter-
mine. However, the level set method is suitable to calculate
the burning surface for each burning step and its related
parameters, such as the burning area, the remaining pro-
pellant volume and burnt mass fraction. Viewing the burn-
ing surface as the interface between the grain and flow
field, the level set method is a powerful numerical tool for
the tracking of the interface between each step and captur-
ing of the evolution of burning surface.
The surface evolution and simulation of partially cut
multi-perforation propellant are divided into two parts: the
grain configuration initialization and the level set calcula-
tion of the propellant regression process. The surface re-
gresses layer by layer until the grain is burnt completely.
The evolution of the surface of a 3D grain obeys the Pio-
bert’s law. With the increasing of the burnt mass fraction,
the remaining propellant volume decreases gradually. Also,
the silvering process can easily be simulated by the level
set method. The burnt mass fraction of partially cut 7-per-
forated propellant grain can be calculated by the level set
method. Results show that the level set method is suitable
to capture the burning surface for each burning step and
its related parameters, such as the burning area, the re-
maining propellant volume and burnt mass fraction. More
important, the level set method gives a possible solution to
the coupling of grain combustion with the internal fluid
simulation by the pressure and velocity. It is impossible for
geometry-based methods to integrate the internal fluid pa-
rameters in an interior ballistic model. Thus, in order to
Propellants Explos. Pyrotech. 2016, 41, 148 – 153
Calculation of the Burning Surface of 3D Grains of Partially Cut Multi-Perforated Stick Propellant
attain the required interior ballistics, determination of the
grain design to provide the required burning area with dif-
ferent shapes can be conducted by the level set method.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51376092) and the Foundation of Science
and Technology on Combustion and Explosion Laboratory of China
(9140C350202130C35122).
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Received: August 6, 2015
Published online: October 8, 2015
www.pep.wiley-vch.de 153