Investigating the Effectiveness of Turbulence Models in Numerical Simulation of Rocket Exhaust Plume

Authors

1 Malek Ashtar University of Technology

2 Aerodynamics Group, Aerospace Department, Malek Ashtar University of Technology

10.22044/jsfm.2025.16058.3959

Abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of various turbulence models for the numerical simulation of a solid rocket motor exhaust plume. The complex nature of plume flow includes compressibility effects, shock wave interactions, secondary combustion, and turbulence, all of which require accurate computational modeling. In this research, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods are employed using ANSYS Fluent to analyze the plume flow field. Several turbulence models, including k-ε, k-ω, the modified SST k-ω, and adjusted versions of k-ε, are examined to predict shockwave locations and turbulence dissipation effects. The numerical results are validated against experimental data obtained from video analysis of static rocket motor firings. The findings indicate that the standard k-ε model generally provides better agreement with observed shock positions, also modifying the turbulent Mach number parameter in the k-ω model significantly improves plume structure prediction compared to the standard model. The study highlights that modifying turbulence models can enhance plume simulation accuracy, improving predictions of thermal radiation and infrared signatures for aerospace and defense applications. These findings are crucial for refining exhaust plume models used in missile signature analysis and launch vehicle design.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Solid and Fluid Mechanics
Volume 15, Issue 4
September and October 2025
Pages 27-39

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