Burn Time Correction of Start-Up Transients for CAMUI Type Hybrid Rocket Engine

Burn time errors caused by various start-up transient effects have a significant influence on the regression modelling of hybrid rockets. Their influence is especially pronounced in the simulation model of the Cascaded Multi Impinging Jet (CAMUI) hybrid rocket engine. This paper analyses these transient burn time errors and their effect on the regression simulations for short burn time engines. To address these errors, the equivalent burn time is introduced and is defined as the time the engine would burn if it were burning at its steady-state level throughout the burn time to achieve the measured total impulse. The accuracy of the regression simulation with and without the use of equivalent burn time is then finally compared. Equivalent burn time is shown to address the burn time issue successfully for port regression and, therefore, also for other types of cylindrical port hybrid rocket engines. For the CAMUI-specific impinging jet fore-end and back-end surfaces, though, the results are inconclusive.

Design, Production and Evaluation of 3D-Printed Mold Geometries for a Hybrid Rocket Engine

The feasibility of 3D-printed molds for complex solid fuel block geometries of hybrid rocket engines is investigated. Additively produced molds offer more degrees of freedom in designing an optimized but easy to manufacture mold. The solid fuel used for this demonstration was hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB). Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was chosen as the mold material due to its good dissolving characteristics. It is shown that conventional and complex geometries can be produced reliably with the presented methods. In addition to the manufacturing process, this article presents several engine tests with different fuel grain geometries, including a short overview of the test bed, the engine and first tests.

Scale effects on hybrid rocket engine performance

In the current study, the effects of scaling up a hybrid rocket engine (HRE) in size has on its performance is investigated. A HRE design from a past RU study is selected as the base model to be progressively increased in size while geometric scale is maintained, up to ten times the original’s size. A computer program employing a quasi-steady convective heat feedback burn rate model is used to conduct simulated engine firings. One finding from this study is that the drop- off in performance for this engine, in going up in size, is not as much as expected. This can be attributed to a conservative oxidizer injection temperature setting in the model, and an oxidizer-fuel ratio mixture influence for this engine that is more impactful. The results presented here however do, to some degree, concur with established trends, with respect to thrust prediction, as the reference HRE is scaled up in size.

Scale effects on hybrid rocket engine performance

In the current study, the effects of scaling up a hybrid rocket engine (HRE) in size has on its performance is investigated. A HRE design from a past RU study is selected as the base model to be progressively increased in size while geometric scale is maintained, up to ten times the original’s size. A computer program employing a quasi-steady convective heat feedback burn rate model is used to conduct simulated engine firings. One finding from this study is that the drop- off in performance for this engine, in going up in size, is not as much as expected. This can be attributed to a conservative oxidizer injection temperature setting in the model, and an oxidizer-fuel ratio mixture influence for this engine that is more impactful. The results presented here however do, to some degree, concur with established trends, with respect to thrust prediction, as the reference HRE is scaled up in size.

Cold flow testing of laboratory-scale hybrid rocket engine test apparatus.

A cold-flow experimental investigation is performed on the Ryerson University lab-scale hybrid rocket engine test apparatus, in order to gain a further understanding of transient phenomena affecting the engine’s hot test firing results to date. The hot test firing data was characterized primarily by noticeable thrust oscillation magnitudes at low frequency being measured by the test stand’s thrust-measuring load cell, relative to somewhat lower magnitude low-frequency pressure oscillations being measured by a head-end pressure transducer. The present investigation allows for the evaluation of the fluid-structure interaction behaviour of the rocket engine’s combustion chamber and upstream oxidizer feed-line/injection apparatus (along with the surrounding test stand structure). Pressurized air at a moderate temperature acts as the working fluid (rather than hot gas arising from combustion), passing through the internal flow system, and exiting at the engine’s exhaust nozzle. Cold flow tests are conducted at three different flow-regulating orifice-plate conditions upstream of the head-end injector: 1) unchoked, 2) marginally choked and, 3) choked, in order to potentially observe any trends in that regard, as tied to feed-system stability/instability. The cold flow test results, from the experimental time-dependent measurement of pressure, thrust and axial acceleration, in turn undergo FFT analyses to help identify any frequency-dependent trends in regard to transient behaviour. Hammer tests are conducted to further establish the relevant lower frequency natural modes of structural vibration of the test apparatus with the engine in position The potential applicability of Karabeyoglu’s well-known thermal lag-combustion-gasdynamic predictive model (for estimating a characteristic frequency), which captures to some degree the intrinsic low frequency combustion-based instability behaviour of hybrid rocket engines, is considered for the present test engine setup. There are some promising comparisons in terms of relevant frequencies of mechanisms in the 20 Hz range, mechanisms that might be coupling to produce a noticeably augmented oscillation condition (as was observed in the hot firing thrust measurements).