摘要: Particulates in the solid rocket exhaust plume cause rocket base heating, motorperformance losses, and determine the plume spectral properties. The particle properties that contribute to these effects are the particle size distrib... 展开 Particulates in the solid rocket exhaust plume cause rocket base heating, motorperformance losses, and determine the plume spectral properties. The particle properties that contribute to these effects are the particle size distribution function (PSDF), emissivity, density, and surface tension. Of the four, the PSDF and emissivity are not very well known. Until an adequate model is developed for the PSDF and emissivity, in situ measurements will have to be made. This report reviews the motivation behind the design and development of an in situ optical probe, and discusses the development of the theory needed to make the measurements of the optical properties. It also develops an estimate of the sampling time required to make the measurements statistically meaningful. Consideration is given to the effects that the optical properties play in the scattering of light by the particles and scanning angles, and incident polarizations were chosen that would minimize these effects. PSDF is discussed, with recognition given to the degree of difficulty in applying analytic methods. Various optimization methods are discussed, especially Genetic Algorithms (GA). The report closes on the note that the PSDF was discernible by transforming it into the equivalent integrated mass distribution (IMD), and recommendations are given as to further improvements in the GA approach. 收起