Supercritical Hydrocarbon Impinging Injector Simulation Facility
Abstract
A supercritical hydrocarbon impinging injector simulation facility was procured and installed to increase the available computational capability to conduct molecular dynamics simulations of supercritical impinging injectors using hydrocarbon propellants. Supercritical impinging injectors using hydrocarbon propellants are of interest to the next generation of liquid propellant rocket engines. The procured high performance computing cluster allows simulations to be conducted in a sufficiently short time period to allow investigation of the effects of operating conditions, injector geometry and propellant composition on the propellant mixing process. Such a facility provides valuable information on the operating characteristics of supercritical hydrocarbon impinging injectors as well as increases the exposure of graduate and undergraduate students to the use of parallel computers to solve engineering and scientific problems of interest to the Air Force. Initial impinging injector simulations have reproduced the differing behavior between subcritical and supercritical liquid nitrogen injection behavior, including the disappearance of surface tension above the propellant critical point. The use of molecular dynamics to simulate the mixing process eliminates the need to track phase boundaries under subcritical conditions, and automatically incorporates rapidly varying material properties near the critical point and mixture effects. Current algorithm development involves the simulation of the ethanol and heptane.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA452142
Entities
People
- Michael M. Micci
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University