Numerical investigation of a movable wall response on a flame propagation

This paper contains a description of a shock wave (called a flame when the deflagration is considered) propagation pattern impact on a motion of a barrier. Here, the numerical research was conducted on a model of a pyrotechnic actuator, hence, the piston is understood as a movable barrier. The processes occurring within the pyrotechnic actuators after ignition of a pyrotechnic propellants have been explained. The investigations are focused on the dependence of a shape of the actuator’s combustion chamber and the piston stroke time. It appears that the appropriate design of the combustion chamber can decrease the time required for a piston total stroke using this same type of a propellant. The visualization of the flame occurring due to ignition of the propellant is crucial for understanding the dependence between the construction of the actuators interior and the piston stroke time. Therefore, the approach of simulating numerically the flames aroused. The simulation was conducted on a full scale 3D model of a pyrotechnic actuator which is a detail representation of a real object on which the verification test will be conducted. However, only the flame propagation was considered here. The material of an actuators members was not investigated, hence the AUTODYN solver considered them as a single rigid bodies with its own mass and inertia.