Joseph H. Ruf

Wall Pressure Unsteadiness and Side Loads in Overexpanded Rocket Nozzles

Surveys of both the static and dynamic wall pressure signatures on the interior surface of a sub-scale, cold-flow and thrust optimized parabolic nozzle are conducted during fixed nozzle pressure ratios corresponding to FSS and RSS states. The motive is to develop a better understanding for the sources of off-axis loads during the transient start-up of overexpanded rocket nozzles. During FSS state, pressure spectra reveal frequency content resembling SWTBLI. Presumably, when the internal flow is in RSS state, separation bubbles are trapped by shocks and expansion waves; interactions between the separated flow regions and the waves produce asymmetric pressure distributions. An analysis of the azimuthal modes reveals how the breathing mode encompasses most of the resolved energy and that the side load inducing mode is coherent with the response moment measured by strain gauges mounted upstream of the nozzle on a flexible tube. Finally, the unsteady pressure is locally more energetic during RSS, albeit direct measurements of the response moments indicate higher side load activity when in FSS state. It is postulated that these discrepancies are attributed to cancellation effects between annular separation bubbles.

Characterization of Side Load Phenomena Using Measurement of Fluid/Structure Interaction

During ground-tests of most production rocket engines over the last 30 years, large asymmetric transient side loads coming from the nozzle and related steady-state vibrational loads within the nozzle have been measured. The widely varying magnitude of these loads has been large enough to fail interfacing components as well as nozzles in these engines. This paper will discuss a comprehensive test and analysis program that has been undertaken to develop a methodology to accurately predict the character and magnitude of this loading. The project to-date has incorporated analytical modeling of both the fluid flow and the nozzle structure and testing of both full-scale and sub-scale rocket nodes. Examination of the test data indicates that one of the two-nodal diameter structural modes may be interacting with flow separation from the nozzle inside-wall in a self-excited or aeroelastic vibration phenomenon. If verified, this observation will be used to develop a methodology for design and analysis. A fuller understanding of the characteristics of this vibration will provide an increase in the accuracy and confidence of side load predictions, which will be critical for the successful construction of the next generation of low-cost, reliable rocket engines.

Sound Produced by Large Area-Ratio Nozzles During Fixed and Transient Operations

Analysis of the acoustic signature produced by truncated ideal contour and thrust-optimized parabolic nozzles is conducted during both fixed and transient (startup) operations. The truncated ideal contour nozzle experiences free-shock separation flow, whereas the thrust-optimized parabolic nozzle experiences both free-shock separation and restricted-shock separation flow states during startup. This study provides a direct comparison of the acoustic signature produced during free-shock separation and restricted-shock separation flow states while operating under identical nozzle pressure ratios. During a transient episode, the continuous wavelet transform is used to compare the acoustic signatures produced by the nozzles. The truncated ideal contour nozzle demonstrates a gradual increase in broadband frequency energy with increasing nozzle pressure ratio and with broadband shock noise appearing at higher nozzle pressure ratios. The thrust-optimized parabolic nozzle, however, displays a much larger sensitivi...

Details of Side Load Test Data and Analysis for a Truncated Ideal Contour Nozzle and a Parabolic Contour Nozzle

Two cold flow subscale nozzles were tested for side load characteristics during simulated nozzle start transients. The two test article contours were a truncated ideal and a parabolic. The current paper is an extension of a 2009 AIAA JPC paper on the test results for the same two nozzle test articles. The side load moments were measured with the strain tube approach in MSFC s Nozzle Test Facility. The processing techniques implemented to convert the strain gage signals into side load moment data are explained. Nozzle wall pressure profiles for separated nozzle flow at many NPRs are presented and discussed in detail. The effect of the test cell diffuser inlet on the parabolic nozzle s wall pressure profiles for separated flow is shown. The maximum measured side load moments for the two contours are compared. The truncated ideal contour s peak side load moment was 45% of that of the parabolic contour. The calculated side load moments, via mean-plus-three-standard-deviations at each nozzle pressure ratio, reproduced the characteristics and absolute values of measured maximums for both contours. The effect of facility vibration on the measured side load moments is quantified and the effect on uncertainty is calculated. The nozzle contour designs are discussed and the impact of a minor fabrication flaw in the nozzle contours is explained.

Flow and Acoustics of Clustered Rockets During Startup

The plume produced by a cluster of two large-area-ratio thrust-optimized parabolic contour nozzles is visualized over a range of nozzle pressure ratios by way of retroreflective shadowgraphy. Both nozzles exhibit free-shock separated flow, restricted-shock separated flow, and an end-effects regime before flowing full. Transient (startup) operations of the nozzles are studied, with the primary focus being the pulsations that form during the end-effects regime. This occurs at a pressure ratio of 37 for these nozzles and is associated with elevated sound levels in the immediate vicinity of the nozzles and vehicle. The shadowgraphy images reveal the formation of turbulent large-scale structures, on the order of the nozzle diameter, during the end-effects regime. These large-scale structures are driven by the intermittent opening of the last trapped annular separation bubble to the ambient and grow rapidly within the first two nozzle diameters.

Recovering Aerodynamic Side Loads on Rocket Nozzles using Quasi-Static Strain-Gage Measurements

During over-expanded operation of rocket nozzles, which is defined to be when the exit pressure is greater than internal pressure over some part of the nozzle, the nozzle will experience a transverse forcing function due to the pressure differential across the nozzle wall. Overexpansion occurs during the nozzle start-up and shutdown transient, even in high-altitude engines, because most test facilities cannot completely reproduce the nearvacuum pressures at those altitudes. During this transient, the pressure differential moves axially down the nozzle as it becomes pressurized, but this differential is never perfectly symmetric circumferentially. The character of the forcing function is highly complex and defined by a series of restricted and free shock separations. The subject of this paper is the determination of the magnitude of this loading during sub-scale testing via measurement of the structural dynamic response of the nozzle and its support structure. An initial attempt at back-calculating this load using the inverse of the transfer function was performed, but this attempt was shown to be highly susceptible to numerical error. The final method chosen was to use statically calibrated strain data and to filter out the system fundamental frequency such that the measured response yields close to the correct dynamic loading function. This method was shown to capture 93% of the pressure spectral energy using controlled load shaker testing. This method is one of the only practical ways for the inverse determination of the forcing function for non-stationary excitations, and, to the authors’ knowledge, has not been described in the literature to date.

Effect of Stagger on the Vibroacoustic Loads from Clustered Rockets

The effect of stagger startup on the vibroacoustic loads that form during the end-effects regime of clustered rockets is studied using both full-scale (hot-gas) and laboratory-scale (cold-gas) data with vehicle geometry. Both configurations comprise three nozzles with thrust-optimized parabolic contours that undergo free-shock separated flow and restricted-shock separated flow as well as an end-effects regime before flowing full. Acoustic pressure waveforms recorded at the base of the nozzle cluster are analyzed using various statistical metrics as well as time-frequency analysis. The findings reveal a significant reduction in end-effects regime loads when engine startups are staggered. However, regardless of stagger, both the skewness and kurtosis of the acoustic pressure time derivative elevate to the same levels, thereby demonstrating the intermittence and impulsiveness of the acoustic waveforms during the end-effects regime.

Acoustic characterization of sub-scale rocket nozzles

During launch, space vehicles are subject to violent vibro-acoustic loads caused by the intense sound pressure levels and transient side-loads produced during rocket engine ignition. A recent study conducted at The University of Texas at Austin has focused on characterizing the internal flow and acoustic signature of a thrust-optimized parabolic (TOP) and a truncated ideal contour (TIC) nozzle test article in order to develop a detailed understanding of the mechanisms responsible for producing main engine ignition noise. The studies are conducted for both transient and fixed nozzle pressure ratio (NPR) conditions. The former provides a more realistic representation of the full scale environment, while the latter allows for a statistical characterization of the various sources of main engine ignition (MEI) noise. Time-frequency analysis is performed on transient startup data.

Time-Frequency Analysis of Rocket Nozzle Wall Pressures during Start-up Transients

Surveys of the fluctuating wall pressure were conducted on a sub-scale, thrust-optimized parabolic nozzle in order to develop a physical intuition for its Fourier-azimuthal mode behavior during fixed and transient start-up conditions. These unsteady signatures are driven by shock wave turbulent boundary layer interactions which depend on the nozzle pressure ratio and nozzle geometry. The focus however, is on the degree of similarity between the spectral footprints of these modes obtained from transient start-ups as opposed to a sequence of fixed nozzle pressure ratio conditions. For the latter, statistically converged spectra are computed using conventional Fourier analyses techniques, whereas the former are investigated by way of time-frequency analysis. The findings suggest that at low nozzle pressure ratios –where the flow resides in a Free Shock Separation state– strong spectral similarities occur between fixed and transient conditions. Conversely, at higher nozzle pressure ratios –where the flow resides in Restricted Shock Separation– stark differences are observed between the fixed and transient conditions and depends greatly on the ramping rate of the transient period. And so, it appears that an understanding of the dynamics during transient start-up conditions cannot be furnished by a way of fixed flow analysis.

Acoustic Imaging of Clustered Rocket Nozzles Undergoing End Effects

A nonintrusive measure of the exhaust plume and immediate sound field produced by a cluster of two thrust-optimized parabolic contour nozzles is studied during two steady-state conditions. The first condition is at a nozzle pressure ratio of 25, at which point the flow is in a restricted-shock separated state. The second condition is at a nozzle pressure ratio of 37 and is when the flow and internal shock pattern transition rapidly between free-shock separated flow and the end-effects regime. These end-effects regime pulsations produce significant vibroacoustic loads due to the intermittent breathing of the last trapped annular separation bubble with the ambient. The exhaust plumes and surrounding sound field are first visualized by way of retroreflective shadowgraphy. Radon transforms of the spatially resolved shadowgraphy images are then used to characterize the statistical behavior of the acoustic wave fronts that reside within the hydrodynamic periphery of the nozzle flow. The findings reveal quantita...