Toward the Chill-Down Modeling of Cryogenic Upper-Stage Engines Under Microgravity Conditions Using the Thermal-Hydraulic Code COMETE G.-M

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Toward the Chill-Down Modeling of Cryogenic Upper-Stage Engines Under Microgravity Conditions Using the Thermal-Hydraulic Code COMETE G.-M Toward the chill-down modeling of cryogenic upper-stage engines under microgravity conditions using the thermal-hydraulic code COMETE G.-M. Moreau, Kc. Le Thanh, C-H. Bachelet, D. Duri To cite this version: G.-M. Moreau, Kc. Le Thanh, C-H. Bachelet, D. Duri. Toward the chill-down modeling of cryogenic upper-stage engines under microgravity conditions using the thermal-hydraulic code COMETE. EU- CASS 2015 - 6th European conference for aeronautics and space sciences, Jun 2015, Cracovie, Poland. cea-02500837 HAL Id: cea-02500837 https://hal-cea.archives-ouvertes.fr/cea-02500837 Submitted on 6 Mar 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Toward the chill-down modeling of cryogenic upper-stage engines under microgravity conditions using the thermal-hydraulic code COMETE G.-M. Moreau, CEA Grenoble K.-C. Le Thanh, CEA Grenoble C.-H. Bachelet, Snecma Vernon D. Duri, Snecma Vernon Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, DEN, DANS/DM2S/STMF/LMES, 17 rue des Martyrs, F-38054 GRENOBLE, France. Tel: 33 438 78 49 56 Fax: 33 438 78 51 95 SNECMA groupe SAFRAN Forêt de Vernon 27208 VERNON, France. Tel: 33 232 21 70 63 Fax: 33 232 21 77 65 In order to understand the critical microgravity chill-down phase, CATHARE and COMETE 1 ABSTRACT simulations of specially instrumented Ariane 5 The design of the Vinci re-ignitable upper commercial flights will be carried out. During stage cryogenic engine requires detailed such flights an additional chill-down is analysis, modeling activities and experimental performed on the HM7B/ESC-A upper-stage work in order to optimize the engine chill- after the separation of the payload and prior to down phase in a paramount effort to further the upper stage safety neutralization. The increase the launcher payload. Prior to any simulation results will be compared to the Vinci starting sequence the oxidizer and fuel available telemetry data in order to validate the feeding lines and turbo-pumps must be numerical tools and the modeling properly preconditioned and cooled down. methodology. Moreover due to the Vinci re-ignition capability the chill-down phase has to be performed during the upper stage coast phases 2 INTRODUCTION under microgravity conditions. The 180 kN Vinci expander-cycle cryogenic rocket engine is designated to equip the new As a high efficiency of the chill-down process Ariane 6 upper stage and it combines the is required to achieve the minimum significant experience accumulated in consumption of propellants within the designing, developing, qualifying and established duration and temperature criteria to producing the previous European cryogenic fully understand the chill-down thermo-fluid flight-proven engines such as the HM7B and dynamics and to reliably predict the heat the Vulcain family, with new advances in transfer rates and temperature history of the manufacturing processes (powder metallurgy propulsion system, Snecma developed the impellers, cooling channel high speed milling thermal-hydraulic code COMETE by coupling ([R1]-[R5]) and the extensive use of integrated and adapting the unsteady thermal code analytical and numerical tools offering a Samcef-Thermal, developed by Siemens, and significant decrease in terms of tests state-of-the-art thermal-hydraulic code requirements, as well as increased performance CATHARE, developed by CEA. While the and reliability through simplicity of design and former simulates the thermal evolution of recurring cost reduction. complex 3D parts such as the engine turbo- pumps and regenerative circuits of the Vinci engine, the CATHARE code is used to model the hydrogen and oxygen two-phase flows. Since the Vinci engine is designed to be reignited several times the chill-down phase has to be performed not only during the boost phase (EPC flight) of the lower stages but also during the upper stage coast phases. As a consequence of the significant difference in densities between the liquid and gas phases the reduced gravity condition strongly changes the flow patterns (with respect to the 1-g gravity level) and accordingly affects the momentum and energy equations. Boiling and two-phase flow behave differently when the gravity levels vary, leading to a significant reduction in heat Figure 1: View of the Vinci expander-cycle exchange and therefore to a less efficient chill- engine with the nozzle extension deployed down process with potentially higher [R6]. consumption and longer cool down durations [R6]. A high efficiency of the chill-down The liquid oxygen and hydrogen cryogenic process is therefore paramount and the cooling engine is designed for multiple re-ignitions to sequence must be optimized to achieve the increase the versatility of the A6 upper stage in minimum consumption of propellants within delivering and positioning payloads in multiple the established duration and temperature high energy orbits. The re-start capability also criteria whilst taking into account every allows a controlled de-orbiting or injection of extreme external boundary condition range the upper stage in graveyard orbit, hence value. contributing to the protection of the space environment from pollution and debris. In order to address all these issues Snecma in partnership with CEA and Siemens developed An important contribution to the overall the multi-physics code COMETE to meet the performance of the launcher is the engine chill- following goals: down. Prior to any Vinci starting sequence the propellant feeding lines, the turbo-pumps and Predict the flight performance of their bearings must be properly preconditioned different chill-down methods and and cooled down. This process involves sequences in order to reduce the complex unsteady two-phase cryogenic flow propellants consumption by numerical due to the low boiling point of the propellants. testing during the first boost and The complexity of the problem results from the microgravity flight phases. non-linear interaction of the fluid dynamics Predict the global behavior of the chill- and heat transfer during phase-change. The down system, the duration to meet the initial phase of chill-down is dominated by the temperature criteria of the turbo- massive evaporation of the cryogens. As the pumps, with respect to the Net Positive system cools down, slugs of liquid entrained Suction Pressure (NPSP) margins and by the gas stream, flow through the system in a the bearing temperature requirements. two-phase film boiling mode followed by the Perform structural analysis during the propagation of the liquid quenching front thermal transient of the turbo-pumps accompanied by nucleate boiling. As the assembly in order to identify thermal system further cools down, the two-phase flow stress concentration areas. undergoes several flow regime transitions until Support the Vinci testing campaign it reaches a single-phase liquid flow. These activities. phenomena are inherently unstable and can lead to extreme flow and pressure fluctuations. Assess the risk of propellant The flight hardware may also be subject to solidification inside the chill-down mechanical stresses due to thermal differential purge lines and the margins with contraction. respect to the triple point pressure and temperature of the cryogens. Predict the thrust generated by the ground chill-down model up to the flight vented cryogens. prediction simulation. The limits of the existing procedure are listed as well as the The successful contribution of the multi- logic of the experimental numerical activities physics code COMETE to the Vinci engine carried out to validate the global behavior of Critical Design Review (CDR) regarding the the code and the soundness of the fitting chill-down performance simulations and feed procedure by simulating the HM7B-equipped valves opening sequences along with the study ESC-A upper stage. of degraded chill-down cases marked in 2014 the first milestone for the industrial application of the code [R11]. 3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION TOOLS In order to further increase the capabilities of the code and to improve the simulation 3.1 Basis principles of COMETE methodology and the flight prediction The coupling strategy of the COMETE reliability an additional effort has been software is based on the coupling of two undertaken focusing on the specific problem of independent softwares : the flow solver the chill-down under 0-g conditions [R7-R8]. CATHARE developed by CEA and the In the past fundamental research activities have conduction solver Samcef-Thermal developed been carried out to study the heat transfer by LMS-SAMTECH/Siemens (Liège, correlations and closure equations in Belgium) controlled by a Master process called microgravity to be later implemented in the Supervisor. The Supervisor, also developed by numerical tool COMETE [R6]. Nevertheless LMS-SAMTECH/Siemens using the MPI the limited data available in terms of message-passing library, allows data reproducibility (the duration experiments is exchanges between the codes. The Supervisor relatively short due to technical constraints sets the duration of the
Recommended publications
  • Numerical Investigation of a 7-Element GOX/GCH4 Subscale Combustion Chamber
    DOI: 10.13009/EUCASS2017-173 7TH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE FOR AERONAUTICS AND AEROSPACE SCIENCES (EUCASS) Numerical Investigation of a 7-Element GOX/GCH4 Subscale Combustion Chamber ? ? ? Daniel Eiringhaus †, Daniel Rahn‡, Hendrik Riedmann , Oliver Knab and Oskar Haidn‡ ?ArianeGroup Robert-Koch-Straße 1, 82024 Taufkirchen, Germany ‡Institute of Turbomachinery and Flight Propulsion (LTF), Technische Universität München (TUM) Boltzmannstr. 15, 85748 Garching, Germany [email protected] †Corresponding author Abstract For future liquid rocket engines methane has become the focus of several studies on alternative fuels in the western hemisphere. At ArianeGroup numerical simulation tools have been established as a powerful instrument in the design process. In order to achieve the same confidence level for CH4/O2 as for H2/O2 combustion, the applied numerical models have to be adapted and validated against sufficient test data. At the Chair of Space Propulsion at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) several combustion cham- bers have been designed and tests at different operating points have been conducted. In this paper one of these subscale combustion chambers with calorimetric cooling and seven shear coaxial injection elements running on gaseous methane and oxygen is used to examine ArianeGroup’s in-house tools for combustion chamber performance analysis. 1. Introduction Current development programs in many space-faring nations focus on launchers utilizing a propellant combination of liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane (CH4). In Europe, hydrocarbons have been identified as an alternative fuel in the frame of the Future Launcher Preparatory Programme (FLPP).14, 23 Major industrial development of methane / oxy- gen rocket engines is ongoing in the United States at SpaceX with the Raptor engine (staged combustion), at Blue Origin with the BE-4 engine (staged combustion) and in Europe at ArianeGroup with the Prometheus engine (gas gen- erator).
    [Show full text]
  • Qualification Over Ariane's Lifetime
    r bulletin 94 — may 1998 Qualification Over Ariane’s Lifetime A. González Blázquez Directorate of Launchers, ESA, Paris M. Eymard Groupe Programme CNES/Arianespace, Evry, France Introduction Similarly, the RL10 engine on the Centaur stage The primary objectives of the qualification of the Atlas launcher has been the subject of an activities performed during the operational ongoing improvement programme. About 5000 lifetime of a launcher are: tests were performed before the first flight, and – to verify the qualification status of the vehicle 4000 during the subsequent ten years. – to resolve any technical problems relating to subsystem operations on the ground or in On-going qualification activities of a similar flight. nature were started for the Ariane-3 and 4 launchers in 1986, and for Ariane-5 in 1996. Before focussing on the European family of They can be classified into two main launchers, it is perhaps informative to review categories: ‘regular’ and ‘one-off’. just one or two of the US efforts in the area of solid and liquid propulsion in order to put the Ariane-3/4 accompanying activities Ariane-related activities into context. Regular activities These activities are mainly devoted to In principle, the development programme for a launcher ends with the verification of the qualification status of the qualification phase, after which it enters operational service. In various launcher subsystems. They include the practice, however, the assessment of a launcher’s reliability is a following work packages: continuing process and qualification-type activities proceed, as an – Periodic sampling of engines: one HM7 and extension of the development programme (as is done in aeronautics), one Viking per year, tested to the limits of the over the course of the vehicle’s lifetime.
    [Show full text]
  • Rocket Propulsion Fundamentals 2
    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20140002716 2019-08-29T14:36:45+00:00Z Liquid Propulsion Systems – Evolution & Advancements Launch Vehicle Propulsion & Systems LPTC Liquid Propulsion Technical Committee Rick Ballard Liquid Engine Systems Lead SLS Liquid Engines Office NASA / MSFC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participation and to a paid course student, in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of AIAA and/or course instructor. Contact the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Professional Development Program, Suite 500, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191-4344 Modules 1. Rocket Propulsion Fundamentals 2. LRE Applications 3. Liquid Propellants 4. Engine Power Cycles 5. Engine Components Module 1: Rocket Propulsion TOPICS Fundamentals • Thrust • Specific Impulse • Mixture Ratio • Isp vs. MR • Density vs. Isp • Propellant Mass vs. Volume Warning: Contents deal with math, • Area Ratio physics and thermodynamics. Be afraid…be very afraid… Terms A Area a Acceleration F Force (thrust) g Gravity constant (32.2 ft/sec2) I Impulse m Mass P Pressure Subscripts t Time a Ambient T Temperature c Chamber e Exit V Velocity o Initial state r Reaction ∆ Delta / Difference s Stagnation sp Specific ε Area Ratio t Throat or Total γ Ratio of specific heats Thrust (1/3) Rocket thrust can be explained using Newton’s 2nd and 3rd laws of motion. 2nd Law: a force applied to a body is equal to the mass of the body and its acceleration in the direction of the force.
    [Show full text]
  • Materials for Liquid Propulsion Systems
    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20160008869 2019-08-29T17:47:59+00:00Z CHAPTER 12 Materials for Liquid Propulsion Systems John A. Halchak Consultant, Los Angeles, California James L. Cannon NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama Corey Brown Aerojet-Rocketdyne, West Palm Beach, Florida 12.1 Introduction Earth to orbit launch vehicles are propelled by rocket engines and motors, both liquid and solid. This chapter will discuss liquid engines. The heart of a launch vehicle is its engine. The remainder of the vehicle (with the notable exceptions of the payload and guidance system) is an aero structure to support the propellant tanks which provide the fuel and oxidizer to feed the engine or engines. The basic principle behind a rocket engine is straightforward. The engine is a means to convert potential thermochemical energy of one or more propellants into exhaust jet kinetic energy. Fuel and oxidizer are burned in a combustion chamber where they create hot gases under high pressure. These hot gases are allowed to expand through a nozzle. The molecules of hot gas are first constricted by the throat of the nozzle (de-Laval nozzle) which forces them to accelerate; then as the nozzle flares outwards, they expand and further accelerate. It is the mass of the combustion gases times their velocity, reacting against the walls of the combustion chamber and nozzle, which produce thrust according to Newton’s third law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. [1] Solid rocket motors are cheaper to manufacture and offer good values for their cost.
    [Show full text]
  • Variations of Solid Rocket Motor Preliminary Design for Small TSTO Launcher
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institute of Transport Research:Publications Space Propulsion 2012 – ID 2394102 Variations of Solid Rocket Motor Preliminary Design for Small TSTO launcher Etienne Dumont Space Launcher Systems Analysis (SART), DLR, Bremen, Germany [email protected] NGL New/Next Generation Launcher Abstract SI Structural Index (mdry / mpropellant) Several combinations of solid rocket motors and ignition SRM Solid Rocket Motor strategies have been considered for a small Two Stage to TSTO Two Stage To Orbit Orbit (TSTO) launch vehicle based on a big solid rocket US Upper Stage motor first stage and cryogenic upper stage propelled by VENUS Vega New Upper Stage the Vinci engine. In order to reach the target payload avg average during the flight performance of about 1400 kg into GTO for the clean s.l. sea level version and 2700 to 3000 kg for the boosted version, the vac vacuum influence of the selected solid rocket motors on the upper 2 + 2 P23 4 P23: two ignited on ground and two with a stage structure has been studied. Preliminary structural delayed ignition designs have been performed and the thrust histories of the solid rocket motor have been tweaked to limit the upper stage structural mass. First stage and booster 1. Introduction combinations with acceptable general loads are proposed. Solid rocket motors (SRM) are commonly used for boosters or launcher first stage. Indeed they can provide high thrust levels while being compact, light and Nomenclature relatively simple compared to a liquid rocket engine Isp specific impulse s providing the same thrust level.
    [Show full text]
  • Los Motores Aeroespaciales, A-Z
    Sponsored by L’Aeroteca - BARCELONA ISBN 978-84-608-7523-9 < aeroteca.com > Depósito Legal B 9066-2016 Título: Los Motores Aeroespaciales A-Z. © Parte/Vers: 1/12 Página: 1 Autor: Ricardo Miguel Vidal Edición 2018-V12 = Rev. 01 Los Motores Aeroespaciales, A-Z (The Aerospace En- gines, A-Z) Versión 12 2018 por Ricardo Miguel Vidal * * * -MOTOR: Máquina que transforma en movimiento la energía que recibe. (sea química, eléctrica, vapor...) Sponsored by L’Aeroteca - BARCELONA ISBN 978-84-608-7523-9 Este facsímil es < aeroteca.com > Depósito Legal B 9066-2016 ORIGINAL si la Título: Los Motores Aeroespaciales A-Z. © página anterior tiene Parte/Vers: 1/12 Página: 2 el sello con tinta Autor: Ricardo Miguel Vidal VERDE Edición: 2018-V12 = Rev. 01 Presentación de la edición 2018-V12 (Incluye todas las anteriores versiones y sus Apéndices) La edición 2003 era una publicación en partes que se archiva en Binders por el propio lector (2,3,4 anillas, etc), anchos o estrechos y del color que desease durante el acopio parcial de la edición. Se entregaba por grupos de hojas impresas a una cara (edición 2003), a incluir en los Binders (archivadores). Cada hoja era sustituíble en el futuro si aparecía una nueva misma hoja ampliada o corregida. Este sistema de anillas admitia nuevas páginas con información adicional. Una hoja con adhesivos para portada y lomo identifi caba cada volumen provisional. Las tapas defi nitivas fueron metálicas, y se entregaraban con el 4 º volumen. O con la publicación completa desde el año 2005 en adelante. -Las Publicaciones -parcial y completa- están protegidas legalmente y mediante un sello de tinta especial color VERDE se identifi can los originales.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis of Regenerative Cooling in Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines
    ANALYSIS OF REGENERATIVE COOLING IN LIQUID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY MUSTAFA EMRE BOYSAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2008 Approval of the thesis: ANALYSIS OF REGENERATIVE COOLING IN LIQUID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINES submitted by MUSTAFA EMRE BOYSAN ¸ in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Canan ÖZGEN Dean, Gradute School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Süha ORAL Head of Department, Mechanical Engineering Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdullah ULAŞ Supervisor, Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Haluk AKSEL Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdullah ULAŞ Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Prof. Dr. Hüseyin VURAL Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Asst. Dr. Cüneyt SERT Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Dr. H. Tuğrul TINAZTEPE Roketsan Missiles Industries Inc. Date: 05.12.2008 I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Mustafa Emre BOYSAN Signature : iii ABSTRACT ANALYSIS OF REGENERATIVE COOLING IN LIQUID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINES BOYSAN, Mustafa Emre M. Sc., Department of Mechanical Engineering Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdullah ULAŞ December 2008, 82 pages High combustion temperatures and long operation durations require the use of cooling techniques in liquid propellant rocket engines.
    [Show full text]
  • Aerospace Science and Technology 86 (2019) 444–454
    Aerospace Science and Technology 86 (2019) 444–454 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Aerospace Science and Technology www.elsevier.com/locate/aescte Full-length visualisation of liquid oxygen disintegration in a single injector sub-scale rocket combustor ∗ Dmitry I. Suslov , Justin S. Hardi, Michael Oschwald Institute of Space Propulsion, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Langer Grund, 74239 Hardthausen, Germany a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: This work presents results of an effort to create an extended experimental database for the validation of Received 27 July 2018 numerical tools for high pressure oxygen-hydrogen rocket combustion. A sub-scale thrust chamber has Received in revised form 22 November 2018 been operated at nine load points covering both sub- and supercritical chamber pressures with respect Accepted 23 December 2018 to the thermodynamic critical pressure of oxygen. Liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen were injected Available online 11 January 2019 through a single, shear coaxial injector element at temperatures of around 120 K and 130 K, respectively. Keywords: High-speed optical diagnostics were implemented to visualise the flow field along the full length of the Co-axial injector combustion chamber. This work presents the analysis of shadowgraph imaging for characterising the Rocket combustion chamber disintegration of the liquid oxygen jet. The large imaging data sets are reduced to polynomial profiles of Combustion visualisation shadowgraph intensity which are intended to provide a more direct means of comparison with similarly reduced numerical results. Comparing half-lengths of these profiles across operating conditions show clear groupings of load points by combustion chamber pressure and mixture ratio.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Analysis of a LOX/Methane Expander Bleed Engine
    DOI: 10.13009/EUCASS2017-332 7TH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE FOR AERONAUTICS AND AEROSPACE SCIENCES (EUCASS) DOI: ADD DOINUMBER HERE Basic Analysis of a LOX/Methane Expander Bleed Engine ? ? ? Marco Leonardi , Francesco Nasuti † and Marcello Onofri ?Sapienza University of Rome Via Eudossiana 18, Rome, Italy [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] · · †Corresponding author Abstract As present trends in rocket engine development recommend overall simplicity and reliability as the main design driver, while preserving high performance, expander cycle engines based on the oxygen-methane pair have been considered as a possible upper stage option. A closed expander cycle is considered for Vega Evolution upper stage, while there are no studies published in the literature on methane-based expander bleed cycles. A basic cycle analysis is presented to evaluate the performance of an oxygen/methane ex- pander bleed cycle for an engine of 100 kN thrust class. Results show the feasibility of the system and its peculiarities with respect to the better known expander bleed cycle based on hydrogen. 1. Introduction The high chamber pressure required to achieve high specific impulse in liquid propellant rocket engines (LRE), has been efficiently obtained by pump-fed systems. Different solutions have been proposed since the beginning of space age and just a few of them has found its own field of application. In these systems the pumps are driven by gas turbines whose power comes from two possible sources: combustion or cooling system. The different needs for the specific applications (booster, sustainer or upper stage of different classes of rockets) led to classify pump-fed LRE systems in open and closed cycles, which differ because of turbine discharge pressure.14, 16 Closed cycles are those providing the best performance because the whole propellant mass flow rate is exploited in the main chamber.
    [Show full text]
  • DEVELOPMENT STATUS of the VULCAIN THRUST Chambert
    Acta Astronautica Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 271-282, 1993 0094-5765/93 $6.00 + 0.00 Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved Copyright ~) 1993 Pergamon Press Ltd DEVELOPMENT STATUS OF THE VULCAIN THRUST CHAMBERt E. IOgNFat, D. THELEMANN and D. WOLF Deutsche Aerospace, MBB GmbH, Space Communications and Propulsion Systems Division, Postfach 801169, D8000 Munich 80, Germany (Received 6 March 1991; receivedfor publication 14 October 1992) Abstract--The Vulcain engine planned to power the cryogenic main stage of the future Ariane 5 launcher is presently under development. MBB is responsible for the thrust chamber of this engine. After 4 years predevelopment and 2 years development, numerous successful tests have been performed on thrust chamber level and the engine development tests have just started with the first ignition tests. The thrust chamber is scheduled to be qualification tested in 1993 and the first technological flight is planned for 1995. The main development results for the thrust chamber are given in this paper as well as an outlook of the further development activities. 1. INTRODUCTION 2. THRUST CHAMBER MAIN CHARACTERISTICS The Ariane 5 represents the next member of the The main data of the Vulcain TC are summarized successful Ariane launch vehicles family. The flight below: performances will be Total TC thrust (vacuum) 1007.7 (kN) * with an upper stage (Fig. 1) Chamber pressure 100 (bar) in GTO max 6800 kg payload Mixture ratio 5.6 (--) in LEO 18,000 kg payload Specific impulse (vacuum) >439 (s) • with the Hermes space plane 23,000 kg. Mass < 620 (kg) Life 20 cycles and In both cases the lower stage is powered by two 6000 s cumulated solid boosters (P230) and one single cryogenic stage lifetime (H155).
    [Show full text]
  • A Methodology for Preliminary Sizing of a Thermal and Energy Management System for a Hypersonic Vehicle
    A methodology for preliminary sizing of a Thermal and Energy Management System for a hypersonic vehicle. Roberta Fusaro1, Davide Ferretto 1, Valeria Vercella1, Nicole Viola1, Victor Fernandez Villace2 and Johan Steelant2 Abstract This paper addresses a methodology to parametrically size thermal control subsystems for high-speed transportation systems. This methodology should be sufficiently general to be exploited for the derivation of Estimation Relationships (ERs) for geometrically sizing characteristics as well as mass, volume and power budgets both for active (turbopumps, turbines and compressors) and passive components (heat exchangers, tanks and pipes). Following this approach, ad-hoc semi-empirical models relating the geometrical sizing, mass, volume and power features of each component to operating conditions have been derived. As a specific case, a semi-empirical parametric model for turbopumps sizing is derived. In addition, the Thermal and Energy Management Subsystem (TEMS) for the LAPCAT MR2 vehicle is used as an example of a highly integrated multifunctional subsystem. The TEMS is based on the exploitation of liquid hydrogen boil-off in the cryogenic tanks generated by the heat load penetrating the aeroshell, all along the point-to-point hypersonic mission. Eventually, specific comments about the results will be provided together with suggestions for future improvements. Keywords: Thermal and Energy Management System, sizing models, turbopumps, LAPCAT MR2 1. Introduction The high operating temperature characterizing the hypersonic flight regime is a long-term issue. Vehicles able to reach hypersonic speed are currently considered for both aeronautical (e.g. high speed antipodal transportation systems) and space transportation purposes (e.g. reusable launcher stages and re-entry systems).
    [Show full text]
  • Jarvis Heavy Launch Vehicle
    JARVIS HEAVY LAUNCH VEHICLE By Forum Orbiter Italia Version 2.62 – October 2012 USER MANUAL Disclaimer and credits This add-on is provided “as is”, without any kind of warranty; it is compatible with Orbiter 2006-P1 (build 060929) and with Orbiter 2010-P1 (build 100830). Many thanks to Dr. Martin Schweiger, for the Orbiter Space Simulator. For the others developers: You are free to use parts of our work, eg sound and texture, but you must credit us as the original source of your work. FOI Credits - Andrew: add-on conception; rocket textures, meshes and configuration; documentation editing. - Fausto: new launch pad textures, meshes and configuration. - Pete Conrad: engine meshes and textures; Shuttle SRB meshes and textures; “dummy” payload meshes and textures. - FedeX: beta testing. - Dany: “Forum Orbiter Italia” logo. - Ripley: D3D9/D3D11 documentation. Forum Orbiter Italia: http://orbiteritalia.forumotion.com/ Introduction In the mid-eighties, the "Jarvis" project was the last serious attempt to revive the glorious Saturn V rocket, and at the same time, one of the first ideas of an alternative use for the Space Shuttle hardware, many years before the current "Ares", "Direct" and “SLS” projects. The Jarvis rocket combines the powerful Apollo-era F-1 and J-2 engines with Space Shuttle electronics and 8.4 m stages (the same size of the Shuttle External Tank). Later versions, with Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) and/or Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB), were proposed, but never realized. Forum Orbiter Italia has developed a complete and versatile family of heavy launchers around these original ideas and projects.
    [Show full text]