TRANSIENT AND 3-D ROCKET ENGINE ANALYSIS

THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPUTATIONALTECHNIQUES FOR ANALYSIS OF TRANSIENT AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL EFFECTS WITHIN ROCKET ENGINES. THE COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCYOF THESE NUMERICAL ANALOGS ALLOWS CALCULATION OF THE COMPLEXFLOWS WHICH ACCOMPANY THE TRANSIENT OPERATION OF REAL ENGINES. SINCE THE STABILITY AND ACCURACY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ANALOGS DO NOT REQUIRE EXCESSIVE NUMBERS OF GRID POINTS OR THE INTRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL VISCOSITY, MODERN TURBULENCE MODELS CAN ALSO BE INCLUDED IN THESE ENGINEERING ANALYSES. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW ROCKET ENGINE ANALYSIS CODE ADDRESSES MANY OF THE DESIGN PROBLEMS WHICH CURRENTLY EXIST BY PROVIDING A DIRECT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ENGINE SUBASSEMBLY OPERATIONS AND THE THRUST CHAMBER AND NOZZLE PERFORMANCE. PHASE I INCLUDES TRANSIENT ENGINE OPERATION AND A FEASIBILITY STUDY OF THE LEVEL OF DETAIL WHICH CAN BE EXPECTED FROM A THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTATION WITH CURRENT TECHNOLOGY. PHASE II WOULD BE DIRECTED TOWARD PRODUCING THETRANSIENT, THREE-DIMENSIONAL TURBULENT-FLOW ROCKET ENGINE MODEL.