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Results for “Cold-Flow Properties”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Fuel/oxidizer-rich high-pressure preburners

The analyses, designs, fabrication, and cold-flow acceptance testing of LOX/RP-1 preburner components required for a high-pressure staged-combustion rocket engine are discussed. Separate designs of injectors, combustion chambers, turbine simulators, and hot-gas mixing devices are provided for fuel-rich and oxidizer-rich operation. The fuel-rich design addresses the problem of non-equilibrium LOX/RP-1 combustion. The development and use of a pseudo-kinetic combustion model for predicting operating efficiency, physical properties of the combustion products, and the potential for generating solid carbon is presented. The oxygen-rich design addresses the design criteria for the prevention of metal ignition. This is accomplished by the selection of materials and the generation of well-mixed gases. The combining of unique propellant injector element designs with secondary mixing devices is predicted to be the best approach.

Schoenman, L.↗

An Analog Computer Study of the Low-Frequency Flow Dynamics of Two Nuclear-Rocket Cold-Flow Engine Systems

An analog computer study is made of the low-frequency flow dynamics observed with liquid hydrogen flowing in two different nuclear-rocket cold-flow (unfueled) engine systems. The prediction of the low-frequency response depends largely upon the generation of the proper mass-flow storage in the system. This is achieved by relating, in the model lumping, the average values of fluid enthalpy and a certain thermodynamic fluid property. A two-phase state equation is derived for thermodynamic equilibrium between the gas and liquid phases. Parametric studies are made which demonstrate the effect of the pump characteristics on the flow damping.

Fox, Harry W., Jr.↗

Design and aerodynamic performance evaluation of a high-work mixed flow turbine stage

As axial and radial turbine designs have been pushed to their aerothermodynamic and mechanical limits, the mixed-flow turbine (MFT) concept has been projected to offer performance and durability improvements, especially when ceramic materials are considered. The objective of this NASA/U.S. Army sponsored mixed-flow turbine (AMFT) program was to determine the level of performance attainable with MFT technology within the mechanical constraints of 1997 projected ceramic material properties. The MFT geometry is similar to a radial turbine, exhibiting a large radius change from inlet to exit, but differing in that the inlet flowpath is not purely radial, nor axial, but mixed; it is the inlet geometry that gives rise to the name 'mixed-flow'. The 'mixed' orientation of the turbine inlet offers several advantages over radial designs by allowing a nonzero inlet blade angle yet maintaining radial-element blades. The oblique inlet not only improves the particle-impact survivability of the design, but improves the aerodynamic performance by reducing the incidence at the blade inlet. The difficulty, however, of using mixed-flow geometry lies in the scarcity of detailed data and documented design experience. This paper reports the design of a MFT stage designed with the intent to maximize aerodynamic performance by optimizing design parameters such as stage reaction, rotor incidence, flowpath shape, blade shape, vane geometry, and airfoil counts using 2-D, 3-D inviscid, and 3-D viscous computational fluid dynamics code. The aerodynamic optimization was accomplished while maintaining mechanical integrity with respect to vibration and stress levels in the rotor. A full-scale cold-flow rig test was performed with metallic hardware fabricated to the specifications of the hot ceramic geometry to evaluate the stage performance.

Neri, Remo N.↗

The Properties of Flowing Sheets Formed by Impingement of Liquid Jets on Curved Surfaces

An applied research program was conducted to determine the properties of flat sheets of propellants formed by directing jets of liquid tangentially against concave, cylindrical deflector surfaces. The dimensions and spatial orientation of the resultant sheets were found to depend only on the orifice diameter and deflector geometry for three propellant simulants of widely-varying physical properties, over the range of injection velocities encountered in liquid rocket engines. Correlating equations, suitable for use in injector design, are presented for free-sheet width and spreading angle. Distribution of mass and velocity across the free-flowing sheets is also reported. Conditions were discovered under which true sheets do not form, or at best malformed or pulsating sheets result. An envelope of geometrical constraints for deflector design is tentatively defined in order to avoid these undesirable operating regions. The results of the present cold-flow tests are compared with firing test data for impinging-sheet injectors and combustion performance is related to single sheet behavior.

Riebling, Robert W.↗