Thrust Comparison of an Ethanol-LOX Rocket Engine and an Air Augmented Ethanol-LOX Rocket Engine through CFD Simulations
Faculty Mentor Name
Shigeo Hayashibara
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
An air augmented rocket engine mixes the exhaust flow from the base rocket engine with air flow in an outer duct or nozzle in order to increase the thrust produced by the base rocket engine. The objective of this project is to determine the difference in thrust produced by a rocket engine without air augmentation and a rocket engine with air augmentation through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The rocket engine that is simulated is an ethanol and liquid oxygen (LOX) rocket engine that was designed to produce 100 lbf to 200 lbf of thrust without air augmentation. The air augmented rocket engine that is simulated is the same ethanol and liquid oxygen rocket engine but outfitted with a cylindrical outer duct around the rocket engine nozzle to allow air flow to mix with the exhaust flow of the rocket engine. The rocket engine without air augmentation and the rocket engine with air augmentation are simulated in two quasi-2D CFD simulations. The two CFD simulations are compared to determine the difference in thrust produced by the two rocket engines.
Poster Presentation
Location
AC1-ATRIUM
Start Date
4-8-2016 1:00 PM
End Date
4-8-2016 3:00 PM
Thrust Comparison of an Ethanol-LOX Rocket Engine and an Air Augmented Ethanol-LOX Rocket Engine through CFD Simulations
AC1-ATRIUM
An air augmented rocket engine mixes the exhaust flow from the base rocket engine with air flow in an outer duct or nozzle in order to increase the thrust produced by the base rocket engine. The objective of this project is to determine the difference in thrust produced by a rocket engine without air augmentation and a rocket engine with air augmentation through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The rocket engine that is simulated is an ethanol and liquid oxygen (LOX) rocket engine that was designed to produce 100 lbf to 200 lbf of thrust without air augmentation. The air augmented rocket engine that is simulated is the same ethanol and liquid oxygen rocket engine but outfitted with a cylindrical outer duct around the rocket engine nozzle to allow air flow to mix with the exhaust flow of the rocket engine. The rocket engine without air augmentation and the rocket engine with air augmentation are simulated in two quasi-2D CFD simulations. The two CFD simulations are compared to determine the difference in thrust produced by the two rocket engines.
Poster Presentation