HEAT TRANSFER IN ROCKET ENGINE COMBUSTION CHAMBERS AND REGENERATIVELY COOLED NOZZLES

AN IMPROVED HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS FOR LIQUID ROCKET ENGINE DESIGN WILL BE DEVELOPED BY USING STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) METHODOLOGY TO ACCURATELY DESCRIBE THE RADIATING, COMBUSTING FLOW AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AT AND WITHIN COMBUSTION CHAMBER WALLS AND REGENERATIVELY COOLED NOZZLES. BECAUSE CURRENT HEAT TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY DESCRIBES THE GOVERNING PROCESSES SEPARATELY AS: INVISCID FLOW, BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW, AND STRUCTURAL HEAT TRANSFER, A NEW SOLUTION PROCEDURE IS REQUIRED WHICH COUPLES ALL OF THESE PROCESSES INTO A UNIFIED COMPUTATIONAL TOOL. SECA PROPOSES AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH OF USING A CFD ANALYSIS WHICH PLACES NODE POINTS IN THE FLOWFIELD AND THE STRUCTURE SIMULTANEOUSLY TO OBTAIN THE REQUIRED SOLUTION. REGENERATIVE COOLING WILL BE DESCRIBED WITH BOUNDARY CONDITIONS EXTERNAL TO THE WALL. THE DETAIL AND RIGOR OF THIS HIGH-SPEED, TURBULENT FLOW ANALYSIS AND THE UNIQUE TREATMENT OF THE WALL HEATING WILL PROVIDE A MORE ACCURATE THERMAL ANALYSIS OF THE ENGINE THAN HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY POSSIBLE.