ADVANCED DIAGNOSTICS FOR ROCKET ENGINE SPRAY CHARACTERIZATIONS

RESEARCH ON LIQUID ROCKET ENGINE COMBUSTION PROCESSES CONSISTING OF INJECTION INTO TURBULENT ENVIRONMENTS REQUIRESDETAILED INFORMATION ON THE PROPELLANT DROP SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS, MASS FLUX OF OXIDIZER AND FUEL, DROP DYNAMICS, AND CONTINUOUS PHASE TURBULENCE PARAMETERS. THE RECENTLY DEVELOPED PHASE DOPPLER PARTICLE ANALYZER (PDPA) CAN PROVIDE THESE DATA FOR SPRAY ENVIRONMENTS PRODUCED BY ATOMIZERS USED IN GAS TURBINE COMBUSTORS AND SIMILAR ENVIRONMENTS. IN THE PRESENT PROGRAM, ADVANCED SIGNAL PROCESSING METHODS WILL BE INVESTIGATED WHICH WILL LEAD TO THE RELIABLE APPLICATION OF THE TECHNIQUE IN THE HIGH NUMBERDENSITY ENVIRONMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH ROCKET FUEL ATOMIZERS. BREADBOARD MODELS OF THE ADVANCE SIGNAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS WILL BE TESTED WITH SIMULATED SPRAY FIELDS TO CONFIRM THE CAPABILITY FOR HANDLING LOW SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO INFORMATION. EXPERIENCE GAINED FROM TESTING IN DENSE SPRAYSWILL BE USED TO REFINE THE ALGORITHMS AND IMPROVE THE PROCESSING EFFICIENCY AND ACCURACY. EVALUATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER THE IMPROVED SIGNAL VALIDATION RATE AND MORE RELIABLE PROCESSING WILL ALLOW ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS OF THE LOCAL NUMBER DENSITY AND MASS FLUX.