Rayleigh Flow of Two-Phase Nitrous Oxide As a Hybrid Rocket Nozzle Coolant
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RAYLEIGH FLOW OF TWO-PHASE NITROUS OXIDE AS A HYBRID ROCKET NOZZLE COOLANT A Thesis presented to the Faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering by Lauren May Nelson September 2009 © 2009 Lauren May Nelson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP TITLE: Rayleigh Flow of Two-Phase Nitrous Oxide as a Hybrid Rocket Nozzle Coolant AUTHOR: Lauren May Nelson DATE SUBMITTED: September 2009 COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Patrick Lemieux, Associate Professor COMMITTEE MEMBER: Dr. William Murray, Professor COMMITTEE MEMBER: Dr. Joseph Mello, Professor iii ABSTRACT Rayleigh Flow of Two-Phase Nitrous Oxide as a Hybrid Rocket Nozzle Coolant Lauren May Nelson The Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo currently maintains a lab-scale hybrid rocket motor for which nitrous oxide is utilized as the oxidizer in the combustion system. Because of its availability, the same two-phase (gas and liquid) nitrous oxide that is used in the combustion system is also routed around the throat of the hybrid rocket’s converging-diverging nozzle as a coolant. While this coolant system has proven effective empirically in previous tests, the physics behind the flow of the two-phase mixture is largely unexplained. This thesis provides a method for predicting some of its behavior by modeling it using the classic gas dynamics scenarios of Rayleigh and Fanno flows which refer to one-dimensional, compressible, inviscid flow in a constant area duct with heat addition and friction. The two-phase model produced utilizes a separated phase with interface exchange model for predicting whether or not dryout occurs. The Shah correlation is used to predict heat transfer coefficients in the nucleate boiling regime. The homogeneous flow model is utilized to predict pressure drop. It is proposed that a Dittus-Boelter based correlation much like that of Groeneveld be developed for modeling heat transfer coefficients upon the collection of sufficient data. Data was collected from a series of tests on the hybrid rocket nozzle to validate this model. The tests were first run for the simplified case of an ideal gas (helium) coolant to iv verify the experimental setup and promote confidence in subsequent two-phase experimental results. The results of these tests showed good agreement with a combined Rayleigh-Fanno model with a few exceptions including: (1) reduced experimental gas pressure and temperature in the annulus entrance and exit regions compared to the model and (2) reduced experimentally measured copper temperatures uniformly through the annulus. These discrepancies are likely explained by the geometry of the flowpath and location of the copper thermocouples respectively. Next, a series of two-phase cooled experiments were run. Similar trends were seen to the helium experiment with regards to entrance and exit regions. The two-phase Rayleigh homogeneous flow model underpredicted pressure drop presumably due to the inviscid assumption. Ambiguity was observed in the fluid temperature measurements but the trend seemed to suggest that mild thermal non-equilibrium existed. In both cases, the dryout model predicted that mist flow (a post-CHF regime) occurred over most of the annulus. Several modifications should be implemented in future endeavors. These include: (1) collecting more data to produce a heat transfer coefficient correlation specific to the nitrous oxide system of interest, (2) accounting for thermal non-equilibrium, (3) accounting for entrance and exit effects, and (4) developing a two-phase Fanno model. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr’s Lemieux, Murray and Mello for their guidance on this project. Also, special thanks to Terry Cooke and Jim Gerhardt for their time devoted to setting up and running the experiments. Finally, thanks to Peter Brennen for his work preceding this thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 I.1 Motivation .................................................................................................................. 2 I.2 Goals .......................................................................................................................... 2 I.3 Methods...................................................................................................................... 3 I.4 Nomenclature ............................................................................................................. 4 II. Background .................................................................................................................... 6 II.1 Rayleigh Flow........................................................................................................... 6 II.1.1 Conservation of Mass (Continuity) .................................................................... 6 II.1.2 Conservation of Momentum and the Rayleigh Line .......................................... 7 II.1.3 Conservation of Energy ..................................................................................... 9 II.2 Multiphase Flow ..................................................................................................... 11 II.2.1 Two-Phase Governing Equations .................................................................... 13 II.2.2 Flow Regimes .................................................................................................. 15 II.2.3 Critical Heat Flux and Dryout.......................................................................... 17 II.2.4 Thermal Equilibrium ........................................................................................ 21 II.2.5 Pre-Existing Two-phase Heat Transfer Models ............................................... 22 II.3 Previous Hybrid Rocket Testing at Cal Poly .......................................................... 25 II.3.1 Hot Side Heat Transfer Characteristics ............................................................ 33 II.3.2 Biot Number Analysis...................................................................................... 42 II.4 Final Rayleigh Modeling Assumptions .................................................................. 62 III: The Rayleigh Experiment Design and Preparation..................................................... 64 III.1 Instrumentation...................................................................................................... 64 III.2 Equipment Verification with a Perfect Gas........................................................... 67 III.2.1 Experimental Design ...................................................................................... 68 III.2.2 Helium Perfect Gas Modeling ........................................................................ 75 III.2.3 Helium Modeling Results ............................................................................... 83 vii III.2.4 Finite Element Modeling ................................................................................ 86 III.2.5 Ideal Gas Experiment Setup ........................................................................... 90 III.2.6 Fanno Flow Model.......................................................................................... 98 III.2.7 Helium Experiments ....................................................................................... 99 III.2.8 Ideal Gas Results Discussion ........................................................................ 113 III.2.9 Ideal Gas Conclusions .................................................................................. 118 IV: Two-Phase Coolant Modeling and Experiments ...................................................... 119 IV.1 Preliminary Modeling and Problem Setup .......................................................... 120 IV.1.1 Fluid Properties ............................................................................................ 121 IV.1.2 System Schematic and Description .............................................................. 123 IV.2 Homogeneous Flow Model ................................................................................. 125 IV.2.1 Shah Correlation ........................................................................................... 132 IV.2.2 Dryout Prediction ......................................................................................... 137 IV.2.3 Post-Superheat Modeling ............................................................................. 138 IV.2.4 Preliminary Results ...................................................................................... 141 IV.3 Revellin-Thome Dryout Model ........................................................................... 145 IV.3.1 Method of Solution ....................................................................................... 150 IV.3.2 Solution Validation....................................................................................... 160 IV.3.3 Application to Nitrous Oxide ....................................................................... 164 IV.3.4 Results .........................................................................................................