DEVELOPMENT OF ABLATIVE THERMAL RESPONSE MODELING OF EPDM-BASED THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS

A one-dimensional material response computer code has been developed for the ethylene-propylene-dien-monomer (EPDM)-based thermal protection system, designated as PARC. This surface ablation and pyrolysis code uses blowing wall boundary conditions and a dynamic coordinate system, and is coupled with computational fluid dynamics and thermodynamics programs' databases. A code-to-code comparison with NASA's PATO model shows very good agreement. Validation results are shown to be in good agreement with ablation gauges embedded in a subscale rocket motor. This modeling capability can improve modeling of ablative material performance in solid rocket motors.