A transient, 2D material erosion model is developed to describe the simultaneous processes of thermochemical ablation and mechanical erosion of ablative materials. The model predicts the rate of surface recession and the erosion pattern by considering the effects of (1) thermal loading (i.e., applied surface heat flux and duration of heating), (2) particle loading, (3) transient heat conduction in the ablative material, (4) conversion of the kinetic energy of the impacting particles into thermal energy, (5) thermochemical degradation or pyrolysis of the polymer matrix, (6) advection due to the flow of decomposition gases, (7) thermal expansion of the carbonaceous char-layer, and (8) variation of the thermomechanical properties of the ablative material with temperature. Numerical calculations of the surface erosion for H41N have been performed. It is found that particle impact substantially alters the thermochemical ablation and thermal effect also changes the mechanical erosion. The predicted results for overall material erosion of H41N are found to agree reasonably well with available experimental data.
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