Mixing and Combustion of Gelled Propellants

ORBITEC proposes to continue to empirically develop and analytically model the mixing and combustion of gel propellants in the rocket combustion chamber flow field generated by innovative vortex injection schemes. The gels are injected circumferentiallytangent to the chamber wall. Streaming the propellants on the wall provides required shear to keep the non-Newtonian fluids liquefied to allow mixing and dispersion on the wall. The thin liquid film of propellants is vaporized and brought to ignitiontemperature by the adjacent swirling combustion process. CFD codes are being used to model the injection and mixing of the non-Newtonian fluids. Propellant vaporization and combustion in the flow field are included in the model. Customized subroutineswill be used to treat geometry variations, and propellant alternatives, and to link codes. In Phase II, proposed herein, chamber hot-fire testing in the form of statistical test matrices will validate and refine the model. Test results will also provideempirical evidence of performance, as well as engine durability and cooling requirements data as functions of operating conditions and geometry variables.