FINITE ELEMENT CODE FOR COMBUSTION ANALYSIS OF ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS

HUNTSVILLE SCIENCES CORPORATION PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AN ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL TOOL TO USE IN ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OFADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE SPACE VEHICLES. THE CODE WILL MODEL THE TURBULENT, FINITE RATE REACTING, TWO PHASE FLOW IN PROPULSION SYSTEM THRUST CHAMBERS. STARTUP TRANSIENTS AND SHUTDOWN SEQUENCES CAN BE MODELED WITH THE TIME ACCURATE ALGORITHM. A FINITE ELEMENT DISCRETIZATION WILL BE USED WITH A FLUX VECTOR SPLIT TECHNIQUE TO PROVIDE A CHARACTERISTIC-BASED UPWIND, FULLY IMPLICIT SOLUTION TECHNIQUE. THE SOLUTION DOMAIN WILL INCLUDE THE SUBSONIC, TRANSONIC AND SUPERSONIC NOZZLE FLOW AND THE EXHAUST PLUME. THE PHASE I CODE WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR AXISYMMETRIC FLOW OF A SINGLE PHASE GAS WITH A FINITE RATE KINETICS PACKAGE FOR HYDROGEN-OXYGEN, AND A TWO-EQUATION TURBULENT KINETIC ENERGY CLOSURE MODEL. THE PHASE II CODE WILL BE EXTENDED TO THREE DIMENSIONS, ARBITRARY KINETICS, AND TO MULTI-PHASE FLOW EQUATIONS. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW CODE WILL USE AN EXISTING FINITE ELEMENT FLUX CORRECTED TRANSPORT CODE AS A POINT OF DEPATURE. THE RESULTING CODE WILL PROVIDE NASA, OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, AND INDUSTRY WITH A MODERN AND EFFICIENT TOOL TO ANALYZE AND TO AID IN DESIGN OR MODIFICATIONS OF EXISTING AND FUTURE PROPULSION SYSTEMS.