Mathematical modeling of disposal of the payload fairing of a launch vehicle after completion

The payload launching into Earth orbit is carried out by launch vehicles. At certain stages of the flight, once the dense layers of the atmosphere are passed through, the spent stages of rocket engines and large payload fairings are jettisoned. Falling of separated parts in the designated areas causes economic, environmental, and social problems. This paper presents a mathematical model of the combustion of a pyrotechnic device with a charge-filler from a solid propellant. The model is developed to calculate combustion processes, the flow of the products of combustion and heat and mass exchange in elements of the pyrotechnic device. Calculations are carried out for three configurations of the solid propellant charge-filler. The obtained spatial and temporal distributions of the parameters of occurring flows allow one to assess the feasibility of the pyrotechnic device, namely defragmentation and combustion of the payload fairing elements. The calculated results for the model pyrotechnic device are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data.