
doi: 10.2514/6.2011-6023
handle: 11577/3240655 , 11577/2491586
Combustion efficiency in standard hybrid rocket motors is usually low. This is due to the poor mixing of the core oxidizer flow with the gasi fied fuel from the walls. Motor scale increase usually worsens this issue. Large and volu metric inefficient post combustion chambers are common devices used to improve efficiency, while mixers are somewhat more complex, but more effective devices. The addition o f a mixer at grain aft-end was originally suggested by Marxman [1], but literature data on mixers, and in general on techniques to improve combustion efficiency is lacking. The resea rch activity herein presented aim at further investigate this issue: a mixer placed in f uel grain was selected as efficiency enhancing device. This work starts from experiments performed by Dr. Grosse [1] and more testing, both at lab scale and at increased scale h ave been carried out. Simple 1-hole diaphragms fixed at 25% of the grain length were used. Centre-hole diameter has been optimized. Moreover, CFD simulations have been carried out to further understand the enhanced mixing phenomena. N2O was selected as oxidizer and as fuel the same par affin Sasol Wax 0907 mixture used by Dr. Grosse was chosen. Lab scale experiments showed that combustion efficiency is raised from 76% (without diaphragm) up to 95% using diaphragms. Also good agreement has been found with CFD simulations. At increased scale (three times the thrust of lab scale), the referenc e combustion efficiency was 80%, and it was raised at 94% with the addition of a diaphragm. Als o combustion stability was enhanced. Another plus of the diaphragm on post-chambers and aft-end mixers is to enhance regression rate downstream it. At lab scale and wit h the smaller diaphragm regression rate was increased up to +90% (4.5 mm/s) compared to literature data without diaphragm. At increased scale the increase was of +65 % (4.2 mm/s). Further research is needed, but these experiments showed that diaphragms can be used to design compact and efficient single-port and paraffin based hybrid rocket motors.
Energy Engineering and Power Technology; Aerospace Engineering; Control and Systems Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Mechanical Engineering
Energy Engineering and Power Technology; Aerospace Engineering; Control and Systems Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Mechanical Engineering
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