Insang Moon

Design of Cooling Channels of Preburners for Small Liquid Rocket Engines with Computational Flow and Heat Transfer Analysis

A series of computational analyses was performed to predict the cooling process by the cooling channel of preburners used for kerosene-liquid oxygen staged combustion cycle rocket engines. As an oxygen-rich combustion occurs in the kerosene fueled preburner, it is of great importance to control the wall temperature so that it does not exceed the critical temperature. However, since the heat transfer is proportional to the speed of fluid running inside the channel, the high heat transfer leads to a trade-off of pressure loss. For this reason, it is necessary to establish a certain criteria between the pressure loss and the heat transfer or the wall surface temperature. The design factors of the cooling channel were determined by the computational research, and a test model was manufactured. The test model was used for the hot fire tests to prove the function of the cooling mechanism, among other purposes.

Development of Ultra-Lean-Burn Preburners for Small Liquid Engines

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is developing gas generator cycle kerosene engines and also researching technologies of staged combustion cycle LREs for the next generation engine development. As a first step to study the staged combustion cycle, an oxygen rich combustion preburner was developed. The preburner is characterized with ultra-lean burn and high combustion pressure of O/F 60 and 200 bar, respectively. The exhaust gas of the preburner is so similar to high temperature pure oxygen gas that it may burn any metal contacted if the temperature is not strictly controlled. Hot fire tests showed that the combustion pressure was stable and the exhaust temperature satisfied the requirements of the average value and the spatial dispersion. This article will introduce the preburner and show the results of the hot fire tests

A Study on the Temperature Distribution at the Exit of Oxygen Rich Preburners

A preburner is one of the key components for a staged combustion cycle engine fueled by kerosene and Lox. Since it has oxygen rich combustion inside, temperature control is very crucial. The temperature of the exhaust gas should be low enough not to burn turbine blade and yet high to keep the efficiency high. In addition temporal and spatial deviations also managed strictly. Conventionally, the required average and maximum temperature are determined by engine system and the preburner should be developed to meet the criteria. Currently being developed preburner has 50K spatial temperature deviation requirement. It was estimated by numerical simulations and proven by tests. The numerical analysis were done with both supercritical condition and normal conditions. The tests results showed that the temperature deviations were less than expected, and the results from the test and simulations were well agreed when the supercritical conditions were considered. Above all, since the gas temperature created by the preburner is very stable with minimum deviation, the preburner developed can be used to drive a turbine and for gas-liquid combustion chambers.

Research on the Low-Frequency Combustion Characteristics of an Oxygen-Rich Preburner

Combustion pressures were measured to study combustion stability for an oxygen rich preburner by both of static and dynamic pressure sensors. The resolutions of each static and dynamic pressure sensor are the 1,000 Hz and 25,600 Hz, respectively. The nominal combustion pressure of the preburner was 200 bar but 80 bar was used at the several initial tests for the safety reason. Two stage ignition was applied to reduce the ignition impact for every tests including the tests with 200 bar combustion pressure. The tests lasted for 10 sec. max. and a little fluctuations of pressure was observed during the main mode. The measured pressures were studied by FFT analysis and no noticeable frequency coupling was found. Thus the preburner can be regarded as stable and it can be utilized for further study on staged combustion cycle liquid rocket engine.

Design Point Operating Characteristics of an Oxidizer Rich Preburner

ABSTRACT It was designed and tested at the design point that an oxidiz er rich preburner for a staged combustion liquid rocket engine propelled by kerosene and LOx. The oxidizer rich preburner was designed as some of LOx injected from the mixing head was burne d with kerosene and the rest of LOx injected from injection holes in the regenerative cooling c hamber was vaporized by combustion gas. The preburner is operated at OF ratio of 60 and combustion pressure of 20 ㎫. The Preburner has a honey-comb type mixing head with simplex swirl injectors, a turbulence ring improving combustion stability and uniformity of product gas temperature distribution, and a nozzle simulating the duct. With the combustion test results at the design point, the oxidi zer rich preburner showed high combustion stability and uniformity of product gas temperature distribution.초 록 케로신과 액체산소를 추진제로 하는 다단연소방식 액체엔진용 산화제 과잉 예연소기를 설계하여 설계점에서 연소시험을 수행하였다. 설계된 산화제 과잉 예연소기는 산화제 일부와 연료를 혼합헤드를 통해 연소실에 공급하여 연소시키고 나머지 산화제를 연소실 재생냉각채널을 거쳐 연소실 중앙의 분사공을 통해 연소실로 주입하여 기화시키는 형태로 최종적으로 연소압 20 ㎫, 혼합비 60에서 작동한다. 혼합헤드에는 단일 와류형 분사기를 벌집형태로 배열하였으며 가스 온도 균일성 향상과 연소 안정성 향상을 위한 혼합링과 터빈까지의 배관을 고려한 노즐을 장착하였다. 설계점 연소시험에서 산화제 과잉 예연소기는 높은 연소 안정성과 생성가스의 균일한 온도분포를 보였다.Key Words: Liquid Rocket Engine(액체로켓엔진), Staged Combustion(다단연소), Preburner(예연소기), Oxidizer Rich(산화제 과잉), Combustion Test(연소시험)Received 2 December 2012 / Revised 11 July 2013 / Accepted 17 J uly 2013

Numerical Simulations on Combustion Considering Propellant Droplet Atomization and Evaporation of 500 N Class Hydrogen Peroxide / Kerosene Rocket Engine

The numerical simulations on 500-N class rocket engine using 96% hydrogen peroxide and kerosene have been conducted, considering atomization, evaporation, mixing and combustion of its propellants. The grid containing 1/6 part of combustion chamber has been generated and it is assumed that 3 kinds of liquid-phase propellants (kerosene, hydrogen peroxide and water) were injected as hollow cone spray pattern, using Rosin-Rammler function for distribution of droplet diameter. For the calculation of combustion the eddy-dissipation model was applied. Owing to small size of combustion chamber and large specific heat / latent heat of hydrogen peroxide and water the propulsion characteristics were highly influenced by the size of droplet particles, and in this analysis the engine with droplet particles of 30 micron in average has shown the best propulsion performance.

Computational Analysis of an LOx Supply Line System of an Liquid Rocket Engine

A computational fluid analysis was performed on an LOx line system of a liquid rocket engine. The model was created with 3D CAD and imbedded to the 3D CFD program. Before the full scale analysis on the system was carried out, each components with simplified models was analyzed to save time and cost. As a result, the inlet pressure of the gas generator should be compensated with a certain device unless the inlet pressure of the line system is sufficiently high. The flow pattern of the exit of the system was dependant upon the location of the orifice as well as the size. As a whole the line system analyzed met the requirements, and will be tested and confirmed after being manufactured.

Development of a Software for a Conceptual Design of Gas Generator After Burning Liquid Rocket Engine

A program that can simulate gas generator after burning liquid rocket engines was developed along with presenting the characteristics of the engines. The program was written in Matlab and used GUI interface so that many users can use it without any difficulties. The results of the program was compared with the real engine which was developed by the LRE advanced country. Most of the parameters concurred within 1% error expect for the pressure at the turbopump. The reasons of the large differences were supposed that pressure decreases at the schematics were smaller than that of the real engines.