Combustion Processes and Instabilities in Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines

Abstract

This research was directed towards developing new knowledge of combustion processes in liquid-propellant rocket engines. Attention was given to the combustion of different fuels, beginning with hydrogen-oxygen but ultimately including multicomponent hydrocarbon mixtures representative of RP fuels, and to nonlinear processes of importance in combustion instability. Effects of detailed chemical kinetics on performance and stability were addressed by introducing systematically reduced chemistry that enables theoretical analysis to be completed thoroughly and accurately. The interactions between chemistry and turbulence were addressed, including the effects of the heat release on the turbulence. The orientation of the work was fundamental and aimed at predicting not only performance and acoustic response but also intrinsic instability. The results were intended to help to improve understanding of combustion mechanisms and combustion instabilities in liquid-propellant rocket motors. The most recent specific results concern induction times in hydrogen-oxygen mixtures and heal-release effects on turbulent missing.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 29, 2004
Accession Number
ADA420091

Entities

People

  • Forman A. Williams

Organizations

  • University of California, San Diego

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Differential Equations
  • Engines
  • Equations
  • Hydrogen
  • Ignition
  • Linear Differential Equations
  • Liquid Propellants
  • Measurement
  • Propellants
  • Random Variables
  • Steady State
  • Turbulence
  • Turbulent Mixing

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry
  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Rocket Propulsion.