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Fast Burning Hybrid Fuels. ASTRO. USAFA. Student: C1C Tim Brown Advisor: Maj. Lydon. Preview. Motivation Fuel Burning Theory Objectives Predictions Cavitating Venturi Experimental Test Set-Up Results Conclusions. Motivation .
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Fast Burning Hybrid Fuels ASTRO USAFA Student: C1C Tim Brown Advisor: Maj. Lydon
Preview • Motivation • Fuel Burning Theory • Objectives • Predictions • Cavitating Venturi • Experimental Test Set-Up • Results • Conclusions
Motivation • There is growing emphasis on safety, environmental cleanliness, low cost, and safety . • Hybrids suffer from low regression rates
Fuel burning theory Humble, R. W., Henry, G, N., Larson, W, J., Space Propulsion Analysis and Design, Space Technology Series, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,1995.
Objectives • Vary oxidizer mass flow rates to find any oxidizer mass flow dependency • Test the hypothesis that paraffin wax offers high regression potential due to droplets which readily escape from a liquid layer on the surface into the flame zone where they can react with hydrogen peroxide • Calculate a and n from the following equation
Predictions A thermochemistry computer code provided our starting point. Assume: frozen flow, exit pressure of 82.7 kPa, 90% pure HTP, 95% paraffin wax and 5% carbon black One test for each different chamber pressure Gave optimum O/F ratio and predicted Isp GuiPep, Arthur J. Lekstutis, Traxel Labs Inc., Revision 0.04
Predictions • Thrust is adjusted to optimize fuel geometry. • Oxidizer mass flow rate is calculated from: • c* is calculated from the thermochemistry computer code where Isp is greatest. • Chamber pressures are based on oxidizer mass flow rates • Length is calculated from cylinder geometry:
Cavitating Venturi • To ensure that the mass flow rates of oxidizer were as desired during the experiment the cavitating venturi was calibrated at varying pressures using H20.
Experimental Test Set-up 2,000 psi nitrogen tank Water-cooled nozzle Purge system Oxidizer Fuel cartridges easily exchanged Spacer Data acquisition at 1,000 Hz
Experimental Test Set-Up Pressure transducers were inserted pre-CV, post-CV, and chamber The nozzle had a 1.1075 square inch exit area and a .1104 square inch throat area yielding an expansion ratio of 10.03.
Conclusion • Similar tests conducted by Stanford University using gaseous oxygen as the oxidizer achieved regression rates around 2.6 mm/sec for values of 130 kg/m^2-sec. Our regression rate is closer to 3.23 mm/sec for the value of 130 kg/m^2-sec. The hypothesis that paraffin is capable of a high regression rate, especially with hydrogen peroxide, was validated.
Conclusion • The main shortcomings were lower than expected , , and c*. • Difficulty of recovering specimen’s weight after firing as well as calculating web-thickness. Therefore included a 5% loss regression result which is still above expected