LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION OF COMBUSTION OF LIQUID FUEL ROCKETS

THE DESIGN, OPTIMIZATION, SIMULATION, AND TESTING OF LIQUID-FUEL ROCKET ENGINES INVOLVES A WIDE VARIETY OF GEOMETRICALLY COMPLEX, UNSTEADY, TURBULENT, MULTIDIMENSIONALREACTIVE FLOW PROBLEMS. IN A HIGH REYNOLDS NUMBER FLOW, THE DETAILS OF THE (THIN) FLAME FRONTS CANNOT BE RESOLVED, EVEN ON THE MOST SOPHISTICATED SUPERCOMPUTER. THIS PROBLEM WILL BE SOLVED USING LARGE-EDDY SIMULATIONS (LES), IN WHICH THE FLOW EQUATIONS ARE SOLVED AT MODERATE-TO-LARGE LENGTH SCALES AND THE UNRESOLVED SMALL SCALES ARE MODELED USING RENORMALIZATION GROUP METHODS. LARGE-EDDY SIMULATIONSOF THE REACTIVE FLOW WILL GIVE THE PRECISE POSITION AND SHAPE OF THE FLAME FRONT, WHILE THE ENERGY EQUATION WITH A HEAT SOURCE AT THE FLAME FRONT WILL GIVE THE TEMPERATURE FIELD AND, HENCE, THE REACTION RATES AND SPECIES DISTRIBUTION. IN THIS WAY, LES WILL GIVE DETAILED, ACCURATE MODELING OF LIQUID-FUEL ROCKET-ENGINE DYNAMICS. THE DESIGN, OPTIMIZATION, SIMULATION, AND TESTING OF LIQUID-FUEL ROCKET ENGINES INVOLVES A WIDE VARIETY OF GEOMETRICALLY COMPLEX, UNSTEADY, TURBULENT, MULTIDIMENSIONALREACTIVE FLOW PROBLEMS. IN A HIGH REYNOLDS NUMBER FLOW, THE DETAILS OF THE (THIN) FLAME FRONTS CANNOT BE RESOLVED, EVEN ON THE MOST SOPHISTICATED SUPERCOMPUTER. THIS PROBLEM WILL BE SOLVED USING LARGE-EDDY SIMULATIONS (LES), IN WHICH THE FLOW EQUATIONS ARE SOLVED AT MODERATE-TO-LARGE LENGTH SCALES AND THE UNRESOLVED SMALL SCALES ARE MODELED USING RENORMALIZATION GROUP METHODS. LARGE-EDDY SIMULATIONSOF THE REACTIVE FLOW WILL GIVE THE PRECISE POSITION AND SHAPE OF THE FLAME FRONT, WHILE THE ENERGY EQUATION WITH A HEAT SOURCE AT THE FLAME FRONT WILL GIVE THE TEMPERATURE FIELD AND, HENCE, THE REACTION RATES AND SPECIES DISTRIBUTION. IN THIS WAY, LES WILL GIVE DETAILED, ACCURATE MODELING OF LIQUID-FUEL ROCKET-ENGINE DYNAMICS.