关键词: 凝胶推进剂；锥形喷注器；流变特性； 表观粘度

Abstract: For the sake of rheological characteristics of gel propellant with regard to tapered injectors，an incompressible fluid solver ，in which shear-thinning Power-Law model was used in the viscosity constitutive equation，was developed based on synchronous overlap-add(SOLA) staggered mesh. Sicilian-Hirt partial cell treatment was applied to deal with the solid wall boundary. A series of simulations for the rheological process of gel propellant were implemented. Numerical results indicate that numerical model and methods are applicable，having good agreement between numerical solution and analytical solution in which relative errors are within 10%. Tapered injectors can strongly promote the shear-thinning behavior of the gel propellant，in which mean apparent viscosity can reduce by nearly 70%. On the contrary，the slim tube stage goes against the shear-thinning behavior. The mean apparent viscosity at the exits of the injectors，which at 50° is only 50% in accordance with 10° ，decreases with increasing the convergent semi-angle，unexpectedly resulting in much more pressure loss of the injectors.

Key words: Gel propellant；Tapered injectors；Rheological characteristics；Apparent viscosity