INTERNAL FLUID MECHANICS OF LIQUID PROPELLANT ROCKET THRUST CHAMBERS

THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES A COMPUTER CODE CAPABLE OF ACCURATELY SIMULATING THE INTERNAL FLUID MECHANICS OF LIQUID PROPELLANT ROCKET THRUST CHAMBERS USING A COMBINED EULERIAN-LAGRANGIAN DESCRIPTION. SUCH A CODE WILL BE EXTREMELY USEFUL IN CONDUCTING A PARAMETRIC STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF DESIGN PARAMETERS ON ENGINE PERFORMANCE AND IN STUDYING THE PERFORMANCE OF THRUST CHAMBERS WITH VARIABLE THRUST. WHILE THE LONG TERM GOAL OF THE EFFORT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CODE TO SIMULATE THE MULTI-COMPONENT, MULTI-PHASE, REACTING FLOW IN REALISTIC THRUST CHAMBERS, THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I EFFORT IS TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF THE APPROACH BY SIMULATING THE FLOW FIELD IN A SIMPLIFIED MODEL THRUST CHAMBER INVOLVING SINGLE-COMPONENT, TWO-PHASE, NON-REACTING FLOW OF EVAPORATING "PROPELLANT". THIS OBJECTIVE WILL BE ACHIEVED BY SUITABLY MODIFYING AN EXISTING MULTIDIMENSIONAL, TIME-DEPENDENT NAVIER-STOKES CODE TO INCLUDE THE LAGRANGIAN DESCRIPTION OF THE DROPLET DYNAMICS.