Reactive flow simulations for a LOX/CH4 rocket engine
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 10 April 2020
Issue publication date: 27 October 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to detail the reactive flow simulations of a LOX/CH4 multi-element rocket engine. The work has been conducted within the framework of the HYPROB-BREAD project whose main objective is the design, manufacture and testing of a LOX/LCH4 regeneratively cooled ground demonstrator.
Design/methodology/approach
Numerical simulations have been carried out with both commercial software and CIRA software developed in house. Two sets of boundary conditions, nominal and experimental, have been applied from which a code-to-code validation has been effected with the former and a code-to-experiment validation with the latter.
Findings
The results presented include both flow data and heat fluxes as well as parameters associated with engine performance, and indicate an excellent agreement with experimental data of a LOX/CH4 multi-element rocket engine.
Originality/value
The research is unique as the CIRA code Numerical Experimental Tool (NExT) has been validated with the commercial software FLUENT as well as with experimental values from the firing of the LOX/CH4 rocket engine demonstrator.
Keywords
Citation
French, A., Cutrone, L., Schettino, A., Marini, M., Battista, F. and Natale, P. (2020), "Reactive flow simulations for a LOX/CH4 rocket engine", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 92 No. 9, pp. 1339-1344. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-01-2020-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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