Vaporization-controlled simplified model for liquid propellant rocket engine combustion chamber design

Abstract

The design of liquid propellant rocket engine (LPRE) is a very complicated process; this is due to two main concerns: First, the requirements to satisfy the issues of performance, stability and compatibility. Second, the complicated, interacting processes inside thrust chamber. In this paper, an attempt to illustrate the importance of different parameters affecting performance, stability and compatibility is performed, followed by extensive study of processes inside thrust chamber. The result of processes study is developing the concept of "rate limiting process" which means that the process that can be considered the most important hence the design can be done mainly by considering it alone. This is done by developing a 1D vaporization-controlled model with its application to two case studies to illustrate model validation and application. It was found that the 1D model is valid as long as the vaporization process is the slowest process in this case the error in computing chamber cylindrical length is ∼15%. However, if the mixing process is slow, or the reaction process in gas phase is slow as in the second case study of RFNA/Tonka250 case, the error grow and may reaches 50%.