Title:
Simulations of a Sub-scale Liquid Rocket Engine: Transient Heat Transfer in a Real Gas
Environment
Simulations of a Sub-scale Liquid Rocket Engine: Transient Heat Transfer in a Real Gas
Environment
Author(s)
Masquelet, Matthieu M.
Advisor(s)
Menon, Suresh
Editor(s)
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Abstract
The prediction of transient phenomena inside Liquid Rocket Engines (LREs) has not
been feasible until now because of the many challenges posed by the operating conditions
inside the combustion chamber. Especially, the departure from ideal gas because of the
cryogenic injection in a high-pressure chamber is one of the ma jor hurdle for such simula-
tions. In order to begin addressing these issue, a real-gas model has been implemented in
a massively parallel flow solver. This solver is capable of performing Large-Eddy Simula-
tions (LES) in geometrical configurations ranging from an axisymmetric slice to a 3D slice
up to a full 3D combustor. We present here the results from an investigation of unsteady
combustion inside a small-scale, multi-injectors LRE. Both thermally perfect gas (TPG)
and real gas (RG) approaches are evaluated for this LOX-GH2 system. The Peng-Robinson
cubic equation of state (PR EoS) is used to account for real gas effects associated with the
injection of cryogenic oxygen. Realistic transport properties are computed but simplified
chemistry is used in order to achieve a reasonable turnaround time. Results show the impor-
tance of the unsteady dynamics of the flow, especially the interaction between the different
injectors. The role of the equation of state is assessed and the real gas model, despite a
limited zone of application, seems to have a strong influence on the overall chamber behav-
ior. Although several features in the simulated results agree well with past experimental
observations, the prediction of heat flux using a simplified flux boundary condition is not
completely satisfactory. This work also reviews in details the state of our knowledge on
supercritical combustion in a coaxial injector configuration, stressing issues where numeri-
cal modeling could provide new insights. However, many developments and improvements
are required before an LES modeling of such a flow is both feasible and valid. We finally
propose a comprehensive roadmap towards the completion of this goal and the possible use
of CFD as a design tool for a modern liquid rocket engine.
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Date Issued
2006-11-21
Extent
14540322 bytes
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Thesis