Regenerative Cooling Analysis of Oxygen/Methane Rocket Engines

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Regenerative Cooling Analysis of Oxygen/Methane Rocket Engines Regenerative cooling analysis of oxygen/methane rocket engines Luka Denies Delft University of Technology REGENERATIVE COOLING ANALYSIS OF OXYGEN/METHANE ROCKET ENGINES by Luka Denies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering at the Delft University of Technology, to be defended publicly on Thursday December 10, 2015 at 15:30. Student number: 4056256 Supervisor: Ir. B. T. C. Zandbergen Thesis committee: Prof. dr. E. K. A. Gill, TU Delft Dr. ir. F.F.J. Schrijer, TU Delft Dr. R. Pecnik, TU Delft An electronic version of this thesis is available at http://repository.tudelft.nl/. REVISION HISTORY Revision Date Author(s) Description 1.0 2015-11-26 L. Denies Initial version provided to graduation committee 1.1 2016-01-11 L. Denies Updated captions of figures 5.26, 5.28 and 5.30-34 to clarify that the test article photo, experimental results and Fluent analysis are courtesy of CIRA iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the final milestone of my degree in Aerospace Engineering, marking the end of my time as a student in Delft. As such, I would like to thank those who helped me bring this graduation project to fruition, but especially also the people who have made my life the past six years an unforgettable experience. I owe gratitude to my supervisor, Barry Zandbergen, for his guidance, support and valuable feed- back. Through discussions with him, I was forced to think deeply about the narrative of this thesis, bringing much needed focus. I thank Ferry Schrijer and René Pecnik for their interest in my project, their expertise and their much appreciated advice. Marco Pizzarelli provided helpful comments by e-mail. I am deeply indebted to the people at CIRA in Italy for the access to their experimental data, but more importantly for their incredible hospitality. In particular, I want to thank Pasquale "il Festivo" Natale, Daniele Cardillo, Daniele Ricci, Marco Invigorito and Francesco Battista for their wonderful company, their help in rebuilding the test results, their expertise in CFD and for showing me their country. Grazie mille. To my many genootjes (in Dutch: afstudeerkamer-, beheers-, bestuurs-, commissie-, dispuuts-, huis-, ploeg-, senaats-, raads- en teamgenootjes) and other friends in Delft, I am grateful for making my time in Delft truly the time of my life. Because of them, my student time was a valuable experience in itself, rather than the means to an end. I want to thank my family for their unconditional support. Although I was rarely with them in Belgium, my mother, father and sister continued to support me in every possible way. Finally, my gratitude to Anouk, without whom it would all have been less meaningful. Thank you all. Luka Denies Delft, November 2015 v SUMMARY Methane is a promising propellant for future liquid rocket engines. In the cooling channels of a regen- eratively cooled engine, it would be close to the critical point. This results in drastic changes in the fluid properties, which makes cooling analysis a challenge. This thesis describes a two-pronged approach to tackle this problem. Simple and fast engineering tools allow for the development of insight in the design space using rapid iterations and parametric analyses. However, they are often rather inaccurate. In contrast, detailed multi-dimensional tools for numerical analysis are more accurate, but they require more computation time. Both approaches are developed for the analysis of regenerative cooling channels of oxygen/methane engines. Each ap- proach uses complex but accurate models for the thermodynamic and transport properties of methane. OMECA (short for One-dimensional Methane Engine Cooling Analysis) is a one-dimensional tool that was developed in Python from scratch. This tool divides a nozzle into stations and analyses the one- dimensional thermal equilibrium at each station. It makes extensive use of semi-empirical equations to calculate the heat transfer at both the hot gas side and the coolant side. The tool is compared to a coupled multi-physics analysis tool, showing that the accuracy of the wall temperature is rather poor, with discrepancies of up to 150 K. Both at the hot gas and coolant side, large deviations are present. However, if the input heat flux is correct, OMECA predicts the coolant pressure drop and temperature rise with a 10% accuracy. To obtain a higher accuracy at the coolant side, the open-source CFD package OpenFOAM is adapted for analysis of supercritical methane. Of particular note is the custom library that interpolates the fluid property tables at runtime. The selected solver is applicable to steady-state compressible flows. The software is then systematically validated using three validation cases. With experimental validation data obtained through cooperation with CIRA, an accuracy of 15 K for the wall temperature prediction is demonstrated. The pressure drop is predicted within 10%. Traditionally, the launcher industry uses copper alloys as wall material in regeneratively cooled com- bustion chambers. They offer a high allowable temperature and high thermal conductivity, but are also heavy and expensive. Recently, several companies have demonstrated aluminium combustion chambers. Aluminium alloys have weight and cost advantages, but have lower allowable temperature and thermal conductivity. The developed tools for cooling analysis are therefore employed to compare aluminium and copper for a generic 10 kN combustion chamber. It is discovered that a thermal barrier coating must be em- ployed to protect the hot gas side of an aluminium combustion chamber, otherwise regenerative cool- ing is not feasible. Even with such a coating, the pressure drop required to cool the coated aluminium chamber is three times higher than the pressure drop required for a copper chamber. A difference in pressure drop has effects on the vehicle level. A larger pressure drop in the cooling channel of a rocket engine necessitates a higher feed pressure. For a pressure fed engine, this means the tank must be stronger and heavier. It is found that even at modest fuel mass, the increase in tank mass is eight times as large as the decrease in engine mass offered by aluminium. This shows that using aluminium for the chamber wall is not advantageous with respect to copper for a pressure fed, regeneratively cooled, oxygen/methane rocket engine. vii CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Methane-fuelled rocket engines................................. 1 1.2 Rocket engine cooling....................................... 2 1.3 Supercritical fluids......................................... 3 1.4 Cooling channel analysis..................................... 5 1.5 Combustion chamber materials................................. 6 1.6 Research question......................................... 6 1.7 Research plan ........................................... 6 1.8 Thesis structure .......................................... 7 2 Fluid and solid property models9 2.1 Methane properties........................................ 9 2.2 Chamber wall properties..................................... 15 3 First order analysis 19 3.1 Computational setup....................................... 19 3.2 Verification and validation.................................... 28 3.3 Parametric analysis........................................ 34 3.4 Exploring cooling channel design................................ 43 3.5 Conclusion and recommendations............................... 47 4 Numerical method 49 4.1 Governing equations ....................................... 49 4.2 Pressure-velocity-density coupling............................... 52 4.3 Turbulence modelling....................................... 53 4.4 Roughness modelling....................................... 57 4.5 Discretisation ........................................... 59 4.6 Summary of numerical methods ................................ 62 5 Validation 63 5.1 Numerical analysis of heated methane............................. 63 5.2 Numerical conjugate heat transfer analysis.......................... 75 5.3 Experimental data......................................... 84 5.4 Effect of uncertainty on design ................................. 92 5.5 Conclusions of validation campaign.............................. 93 6 Results of CFD analysis 95 6.1 Nozzle channel analysis ..................................... 96 6.2 Nozzle channels with improved geometry........................... 103 6.3 Mass calculation and comparison ............................... 108 6.4 Summary of results ........................................ 109 7 Conclusions and recommendations 111 A OpenFOAM guidelines 113 A.1 Convergence............................................ 113 A.2 Solvers................................................ 113 A.3 Wall functions ........................................... 114 ix LISTOF FIGURES 1.1 Illustration of a rocket engine with regenerative cooling .................. 3 1.2 Indication of thermodynamic state of various propellants in cooling channels [10].. 3 1.3 Mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement, impairment, deterioration and recovery. Figure from [27] .......................................... 4 2.1 Methane phase diagram showing variation of density with pressure and temperature as well as critical point [43] ..................................... 10 2.2 Variation of methane specific heat cp with temperature at various pressures. Curves for data from NIST [50], markers for model implemented in Python.............. 11 2.3 Comparison between fluid property models programmed
Recommended publications
  • Lecture 19 Cryocoolers
    Lecture 19 Cryocoolers J. G. Weisend II Goals • Introduce the characteristics and applications of cryocoolers • Discuss recuperative vs. regenerative heat exchangers • Describe regenerator materials • Describe the Stirling cycle, Gifford McMahon and pulse tube cryocoolers and give examples June 2019 Cryocoolers - J. G. Weisend II Slide 2 Introduction to Cryocoolers • Cryocoolers are smaller closed cycle mechanical refrigeration systems – There is no official upper size for a cryocooler but typically these provide less than few 100 W of cooling at 20 – 100 K and less than 10 W at 4.2 K – Cryocoolers do not use the Claude/Collins cycles used by large refrigeration plants but use alternative cycles – Working fluid is almost always helium – some exceptions exist – All the laws of thermodynamics still apply – Improved technology ( bearings, miniaturized compressors, better materials, CFD, better reliability etc) has lead to the development of a large number of practical cryocooler designs in the past 10 – 20 years – We will concentrate on 3 types: Stirling, Gifford McMahon & Pulse tube June 2019 Cryocoolers - J. G. Weisend II Slide 3 Cryocooler Applications • Cryocoolers are most useful in applications that: – Have smaller heat loads ( < 1 kW) – Operate above 10 K (though there are significant 4.2 K applications) • Note synergy with HTS operating temperatures – Require small size, weight, portability or operation in remote locations – space and military applications – Are single cryogenic applications within a larger system – reliquefiers for MRI magnets, sample cooling, “cooling at the flip of a switch” June 2019 Cryocoolers - J. G. Weisend II Slide 4 Cryocooler Applications – Cooling of infrared sensors for night vision, missile guidance, surveillance or astronomy • Much IR astronomy requires < 3 K and thus can’t be met by cryocoolers – “Cryogen free” superconducting magnets or SQUID arrays – Reliquefing LN2,LHe or other cryogens – Cooling of thermal radiation shields – Cooling of HiTc based electronics e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Safety Consideration on Liquid Hydrogen
    Safety Considerations on Liquid Hydrogen Karl Verfondern Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft der 5/JULICH Mitglied FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................1 2. PROPERTIES OF LIQUID HYDROGEN..........................................................................................3 2.1. Physical and Chemical Characteristics..............................................................................................3 2.1.1. Physical Properties ......................................................................................................................3 2.1.2. Chemical Properties ....................................................................................................................7 2.2. Influence of Cryogenic Hydrogen on Materials..............................................................................9 2.3. Physiological Problems in Connection with Liquid Hydrogen ....................................................10 3. PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROGEN AND SLUSH HYDROGEN................................... 13 3.1. Liquid Hydrogen Production Methods ............................................................................................ 13 3.1.1. Energy Requirement .................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.2. Linde Hampson Process ............................................................................................................15
    [Show full text]
  • Laboratory Bsalamos,New Mexico 87545
    LA-UR--86-1643 DE86 011252 TITLE A CWPACT REAC’iOR/ORC POWER SOURCE AUTHORISI Karl L. Meier, Walter L. Kirchner, and Gordon J. Wlllcutt, Q-12 SUBM1 TEE TO To be prcsmtd nt the 21st Intcrnocicty Energy Convcrsiun l?ngLnmr tng Con rcrmcc (IECEC), in San Diego, C..l~forn1il, in Au~uMt 25-?9, 1986. II,, ;. , 1,1 : 1. ,: . , , ,....,, d .,, !1 :. ...ml I i,, 1,,, I \ J ‘hr. ‘ . 1.1! ‘:1.111% ,m . .. ., ,1.. ,. .,,. .!. , ,,,, #,, . ,: n,.,., ., , 11111: ., ‘. ,,. 1“ ,,l. ;.”’,,.:.. .! 11.1 ., ., .,, ., ..,, l,. -,. .,1 1, :’, . ,, ..,,.,,.. ...A!.1,1 l!,l, , ,.” . ...!, 1 . - ,. ,1. :, ., ,,. ,,, I.. l,,,: r.. ,, :.,1. ,.,.,, k. ,:, ,,, 1,. :,,, t v ,’. .,, .. ,1,’, ., s,, 1, ., .,,,:, ,1. ,.,,, ” ., .. ,.,. .,1 , . .,111 —— n LosAlamos Nationa!Laboratory AhlmlmbsAlamos,New Mexico 87545 UISll{ll,NJllON (X’ I HIS DWUMENT IS UNUMIUUJ A COW’ACT REACTOR/ORC PONER SOURCE technology. A long mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) results from redundant components and a design with few moving parts. Figure 1 is a three-dimensional Karl L. Meier, Walter L. Kirchner, and cutaway view of the CNPS showing the vessel, reactor Gordon J. Uillcutt core, reflector~, control rod:, heat pipes, and Los Alamos National Laboratory vaporizers. Reactor Design and Analysis Group (Q-12) The reactor combines a number of inherent safety. Los Alamos, NM 87545 features (1*). mized by the use‘affguadsA9.9% enrichedConsider?\gsf;:;. m’;;; coated partic’1 fuel retains virtually all the fis- ABSTRACT sion products generated throughout the 20-yr life of the reactor. Transier,teffects are mitigated by the A compact power source that combines an organic large graphite mass of the core. A strong negative Rankine Cycle (ORC) electric generator with a temperature coef~icient of reactivity is the salient nuclear reactor heat source is being designed and inherent safety feature, limiting peak reactor tem- f~bricated.
    [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]
  • Development of a Combined Thermal Management and Power Generation System Using a Multi-Mode Rankine Cycle
    DEVELOPMENT OF A COMBINED THERMAL MANAGEMENT AND POWER GENERATION SYSTEM USING A MULTI-MODE RANKINE CYCLE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering By: NATHANIEL M. PAYNE B.S., Ohio Northern University, 2019 2021 Wright State University Cleared for Public Release by AFRL Public Affairs on June 2, 2021 Case Number: 2021-0296 The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL April 27, 2021 I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Nathaniel M. Payne ENTITLED Development of a Combined Thermal Management and Power Generation using a Multi-Mode Rankine Cycle BE ACCEPTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. __________________________ Dr. Mitch Wolff, Ph.D. Thesis Director __________________________ Dr. Raghu Srinivasan, Ph.D., P.E. Chair, Mechanical & Materials Engineering Committee on Final Examination: ________________________________ Dr. Rory Roberts, Ph.D. ________________________________ Dr. José Camberos, Ph.D. ________________________________ Levi Elston, M.S. ________________________________ Barry Milligan, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dean of the Graduate School ABSTRACT Payne, Nathaniel M. M.S.M.E., Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, 2021. Development of a Combined Thermal Management and Power Generation System using a Multi-Mode Rankine Cycle. Two sub-systems that present a significant challenge in the development of high- performance air vehicle exceeding speeds of Mach 5 are the power generation and thermal management sub-systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Cryogenic Microcooling
    CRYOGENIC MICROCOOLING A MICROMACHINED COLD STAGE OPERATING WITH A SORPTION COMPRESSOR IN A VAPOR COMPRESSION CYCLE Johannes Burger The research described in this thesis was carried out at the MESA+ Research Institute of the University of Twente. It was a cooperative project between the Low Temperature Group and the Micromechanical Transducers Group in the Faculty of Applied Physics. The research was financed by the Dutch Technology Foundation (STW). De promotiecommissie: Voorzitter en secretaris: Prof. dr. ir. J.H.A. de Smit Universiteit Twente Promotoren: Prof. dr. H. Rogalla Universiteit Twente Prof. dr. M. Elwenspoek Universiteit Twente Assistent promotor: Dr. ir. H.J.M. ter Brake Universiteit Twente Leden: Prof. dr. Y. Bäcklund Mälardalen University, Sweden Prof. dr. A.T.A.M. de Waele Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Prof. dr. ir. J. van Amerongen Universiteit Twente Prof. dr. ir. T.H. van der Meer Universiteit Twente Deskundige: L.A. Wade Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA Cover: A cold stage consisting of three micromachined silicon components that are interfaced by two coaxial glass-tube counterflow heat exchangers. The glass-tube heat exchangers are visible as the two thick tubes and consist of two tubes that are placed concentrically around each other; the orange color is caused by a coating. The two thin glass tubes that are visible are included to add mechanical stability to the system. Thin-film heaters with a gold layer on top of it are located on the three silicon parts. The left part combines the high and low pressure gas lines in the first counterflow heat exchanger, the middle part is a condenser where a vapor- liquid transition occurs, and the right part contains a flow restriction and an evaporator.
    [Show full text]
  • Program and Abstracts CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
    ICC 19 San Diego, CA · June 20-23, 2016 P Program and Abstracts CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Conference Chairman Program Committee Dean Johnson Carl Kirkconnell, West Coast Solutions, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA USA - Chair Email: [email protected] Mark Zagarola, Creare, USA, - Deputy Chair Conference Co-Chairmen Tonny Benchop, Thales Cryogenics BV, Netherlands Jose Rodriguez Peter Bradley, NIST, USA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA Ted Conrad, Raytheon, USA Email: [email protected] Gershon Grossman, Technion, Israel Elaine Lim, Aerospace Corporation, USA Sidney Yuan Jennifer Marquardt, Ball Aerospace, Aerospace Corporation, USA USA Jeff Olson, Lockheed Martin, USA Email : [email protected] John Pfotenhauer, University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA Treasurer Alex Veprik, SCD, Israel Ray Radebaugh Sonny Yi, Aerospace Corporation, USA National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA ICC Board Email: [email protected] Dean Johnson, JPL, USA-Chairman Ray Radebaugh, NIST, USA – Treasurer Proceedings Co-editors Ron Ross, JPL, USA – Co-Editor Saul Miller Jeff Raab, Retired, USA – Past Chairman Retired Rich Dausman, Cryomech, Inc., USA - Email: icc [email protected] Past Chairman Paul Bailey, University of Oxford, UK Peter Bradley, NIST, USA Ron Ross Martin Crook, RAL, UK Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA Lionel Duband, CEA, France Email: [email protected] Zhihua Gan, Zhejiang University, China Ali Kashani, Atlas Scientific, USA Takenori Numezawa, National Institute for Program Chair Material Science, Japan Carl Kirkconnell Jeff Olson, Lockheed Martin Space System West Coast Solutions, USA Co., USA Email: [email protected] Limin Qiu, Zhejiang University, China Thierry Trollier, Absolut System SAS, Deputy Program Chair France Mark Zagarola, Creare, USA Mark V.
    [Show full text]
  • Cfd Modelling of a Beta-Type Stirling Machine
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Politecnico di Milano 11th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM XI) 5th European Conference on Computational Mechanics (ECCM V) 6th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI) E. O~nate,J. Oliver and A. Huerta (Eds) CFD MODELLING OF A BETA-TYPE STIRLING MACHINE A. Della Torre1, A. Guzzetti1, G. Montenegro1, T. Cerri1, A. Onorati1 and F. Aloui2 1 Dip. di Energia, Politecnico di Milano, Via Lambruschini 4, I-20156 Milano, ITALY 2 Universit´ede Lille Nord de France, Laboratoire TEMPO, UVHC, F-59313 Valenciennes Cedex 9, FRANCE Key words: Stirling engine, CFD modelling, Regenerator, Heat transfer, OpenFOAM Abstract. In the last decades the Stirling technology has experienced a renewed interest in industry and academy, due to a wide range of possible applications for energy generation from renewable resources and waste-heat recovery. In this context, the adoption of CFD can give a substantial contribution to the development of this technology, since it allows to enhance the understanding of the physical phenomena occurring inside the machine and to provide useful guide-lines for its optimization. In the present work CFD is applied to the simulation of a Beta-type Stirling ma- chine. As preliminary step, in order to model the specific features of the machine, ad-hoc submodels were implemented on the basis of the open-source software OpenFOAM. In particular specific mesh motion strategies were developed for the description of the mo- tion of the power piston and of the regenerator, in order to reproduce the variation of the volumes of the working spaces.
    [Show full text]
  • Enhancing the Effectiveness of Stirling Engine Regenerators by Anders S
    Enhancing the effectiveness of Stirling engine regenerators by Anders S. Nielsen A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science University of Ontario Institute of Technology Oshawa, Ontario, Canada April 2019 c Anders S. Nielsen, 2019 Thesis Examination Information Submitted by: Anders S. Nielsen Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering Thesis title: Enhancing the effectiveness of Stirling engine regenerators An oral defense of this thesis took place on April 8th, 2019 in front of the following examining committee: Examining Committee: Chair of Examining Committee Dr. Haoxiang Lang Research Supervisor Dr. Brendan MacDonald Examining Committee Member Dr. Dipal Patel External Examiner Dr. Bale Reddy, UOIT-FEAS The above committee determined that the thesis is acceptable in form and content and that a satisfactory knowledge of the field covered by the thesis was demonstrated by the candidate during an oral examination. A signed copy of the Certificate of Approval is available from the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. ii Abstract A discrete heat transfer model is developed to determine which parameters influence the effectiveness of Stirling engine regenerators and quantify how they influence it. It is revealed that the regenerator thermal mass ratio and number of sub-regenerators are the two parameters that influence regenerator effectiveness, and these findings were extended to derive expressions for the regenerator effectiveness and Stirling en- gine efficiency. It is determined that a minimum of 19 sub-regenerators are required to attain a regenerator effectiveness of 95%.
    [Show full text]
  • Ideas Into Hardware: a History of the Rocket Engine Test Facility
    Ideas Into Hardware IDEAS INTO HARDWARE A History of the Rocket Engine Test Facility at the NASA Glenn Research Center Virginia P. Dawson National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Glen Research Center Cleveland, Ohio 2004 This document was generated for the NASA Glenn Research Center, in accor- dance with a Memorandum of Agreement among the Federal Aviation Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), The Ohio State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The City of Cleveland’s goal to expand the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport required the NASA Glenn Research Center’s Rocket Engine Test Facility, located adjacent to the airport, to be removed before this expansion could be realized. To mitigate the removal of this registered National Historic Landmark, the National Park Service stipulated that the Rocket Engine Test Facility be documented to Level I standards of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). This history project was initiated to fulfill and supplement that requirement. Produced by History Enterprises, Inc. Cover and text design by Diana Dickson. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dawson, Virginia P. (Virginia Parker) —Ideas into hardware : a history of NASA’s Rocket Engine Test Facility / by Virginia P. Dawson. ——p.——cm. —Includes bibliographical references. —1. Rocket engines—Research—United States—History.—2.—United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration—History.—I. Title. TL781.8.U5D38 2004 621.43'56'072077132—dc22 2004024041 Table of Contents Introduction / v 1. Carving Out a Niche / 1 2. RETF: Complex, Versatile, Unique / 37 3. Combustion Instability and Other Apollo Era Challenges, 1960s / 64 4.
    [Show full text]
  • A Technology for Improving Regenerative Cooling in Advanced Cryogenic Rocket Engines for Space Transportation
    Advances in Astronautics Science and Technology (2021) 4:11–18 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42423-020-00071-0 ORIGINAL PAPER A Technology for Improving Regenerative Cooling in Advanced Cryogenic Rocket Engines for Space Transportation A. P. Baiju1 · N. Jayan1 · G. Nageswaran1 · M. S. Suresh1 · V. Narayanan1 Received: 28 August 2020 / Revised: 26 November 2020 / Accepted: 3 December 2020 / Published online: 19 January 2021 © Chinese Society of Astronautics 2021 Abstract Regenerative cooling of thrust chamber is the unique solution for the thermal management of high heat fux generated inside the combustion chamber of Cryogenic rocket engine. Heat is transferred from combustion hot gas to coolant through the channels provided on inner copper shell, thereby cools the inner wall of the nozzle. A novel technique of providing copper foam inside the channels will act as an infnite fn and also act as barrier for coolant stratifcation. This will improve the heat transfer to the coolant and reduce the nozzle wall temperature. Heat transfer improvement with copper foam inserts to the coolant channel is demonstrated through experiments with simulated fuids. Experiments are conducted with simulated hot gas chamber and coolant channels using water as the coolant. Copper foam with high porosity is selected to fll the channels. Hot tests are carried out with copper foam flled coolant channels and measured the coolant temperature rise and pressure drop across the channels. Tests are repeated with similar hot gas condition, but without inserting copper foam inside the channels. A substantial enhancement in heat transfer to the coolant is observed with copper foam inserts experiments, which will reduce the wall temperature.
    [Show full text]
  • Propulsion Engineering Research Center
    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19940018555 2020-06-16T15:54:43+00:00Z PROPULSION ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER [! - -- - - n I [I 1993 ANNUAL REPORT VOLUME II 0 NOVEMBER, 1993 [I oio P4 m3mm 50 - - R - - -- A UNIVERSITY SPACE ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER FIFTH AMNUAL SYMPOSIUM SEPTEMBER 8-9: 1993 106 RESEARCH BUILDING EAST rloweu rn kZX m *w3- UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA 16801 OI AC 4zom NASA PROPULSION ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 1993 VOLUME II FIFIH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM SEPTEMBER &9,1993 THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY PARK, PA THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY PARK, PA WBLE OF CONTENTS Sumary.. ......................................................................................................................... Technical Program............................................................................................................ by Image Deconvolution .................................................................................................. Small Rocket Flowfield Diagnostic Chambers................................................................. A Theoretical Evaluation of Aluminum Gel Propellant Two-Phase Flow Losses on Vehicle Performance................................................................................................... Laser Diagnostics for Small Rockets................................................................................ CFD Analyses of Combustor and Nozzle Flowfields....................................................... LOX Droplet Vaporization
    [Show full text]