Adam Okninski, Jan Kindracki and Piotr Wolanski
Today’s modern liquid propellant rocket engines have a very complicated structure. They cannot be arbitrarily downsized, ensuring efficient propellants’ mixing and combustion…
Abstract
Purpose
Today’s modern liquid propellant rocket engines have a very complicated structure. They cannot be arbitrarily downsized, ensuring efficient propellants’ mixing and combustion. Moreover, the thermodynamic cycle’s efficiency is relatively low. Utilizing detonation instead of deflagration could lead to a significant reduction of engine chamber dimensions and mass. Nowadays, laboratory research is conducted in the field of rotating detonation engine (RDE) testing worldwide. The aim of this paper is to cover the design of a flight demonstrator utilizing rocket RDE technology.
Design/methodology/approach
It presents the key project iterations made during the design of the gaseous oxygen and methane-propelled rocket. One of the main goals was to develop a rocket that could be fully recoverable. The recovery module uses a parachute assembly. The paper describes the rocket’s main subsystems. Moreover, vehicle visualizations are presented. Simple performance estimations are also shown.
Findings
This paper shows that the development of a small, open-structure, rocket RDE-powered vehicle is feasible.
Research limitations/implications
Flight propulsion system experimentation is on-going. However, first tests were conducted with lower propellant feeding pressures than required for the first launch.
Practical implications
Importantly, the vehicle can be a test platform for a variety of technologies. The rocket’s possible further development, including educational use, is proposed.
Originality/value
Up-to-date, no information about any flying vehicles using RDE propulsion systems can be found. If successful in-flight experimentation was conducted, it would be a major milestone in the development of next-generation propulsion systems.
Details
Keywords
Adam Wisniewski, Maciej Malicki and Wojciech Manaj
This paper aims to enhance the selection of the best material of the rocket engine combustion chamber. The chamber has been destroyed during dynamometer tests, and the goal of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to enhance the selection of the best material of the rocket engine combustion chamber. The chamber has been destroyed during dynamometer tests, and the goal of this inspection is to verify the nature of the damage in the context of checking the usefulness of this type of graphite for the combustion chamber construction.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the results of visual and microscopic inspection of the rocket engine combustion chamber of Ø50 × 165 mm in dimension, which was made of R type graphite.
Findings
An analysis of the fracture surface shows that in the inspected combustion chamber voids and inclusions are present. EDS analysis of the fracture surface shows that in the inspected combustion chamber inclusions are present which have a relatively high amount of elements like: Ti, C, S, V, Si, O and a relatively small amount of Fe and Ni.
Research limitations/implications
Research limitations is concerned the failure analysis by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) Zeiss EVO 25 MA with EDS detector: Brüker X Flash Detector 5010 125 eV and Espirit 1.9.0.2176 EDS software.
Practical implications
Designing of the engine combustion chamber the researches can select the best of the rocket engine combustion chamber, made of R type graphite, with the minimum voids and inclusions to decrease the possibility of bursting of this chamber.
Originality/value
The most dangerous issues in the inspected combustion chamber during an outflow are hot gases as a result of high fuel combustion temperature, so it causes the nozzle heating and the engine stress increase of visible inclusions in cross-sections.