Numerical modeling of heat and mass transfer processes of a thermocatalytic low-thrust liquid propellant rocket engine

Аuthors

Laptev I. V.^1*, Tsyrendorzhiev E. S.^2**

1. Keldysh Research Centre, 8, Onezhskaya str., Moscow, 125438, Russia
2. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), 1A, Kerchenskaya Str., Moscow, 117303, Russia

*e-mail: laptev@kerc.msk.ru
**e-mail: tsyrendorzhiev.es@gmail.com

Abstract

Thermocatalytic liquid-propellant low-thrust rocket engines are widely used as orbit control engines. Despite all advantages of the engine, associated with its efficiency, it possesses a number of features, which complicate its development and operation. One of these features is the lack of cooling loop that would allow removing heat rapidly accumulated in the engine structure under certain operating modes.
The other feature is straightforwardly phenomenon of filtration combustion of liquid fuels, employed to form the working body in the supersonic nozzle. Ensuring stationary decomposition front or the front moving at low speed is a non-trivial problem requiring complex experimental work-out.
The above mentioned reasons and the current trend towards creating digital twins stipulates the necessity for creating a computer model allowing facilitate and speed--up the design stage of a final product.
The article describes a computer model of the thermal state of a thermocatalytic liquid monopropellant low-thrust rocket engine based on the LOGOS software. The proposed model accounts for the following phenomena: conductive heat transfer through the rocket engine elements, filtration combustion of liquid monopropellant in the combustion chamber and convective heat exchange between the fuel decomposition products and the rocket engine nozzle. The filtration combustion model, based on the two-level semi-implicit difference schemes, is realized in the form of the author’s module. The authors proposed methods for computation accelerating by empirical techniques for individual processes.
Comparison of the data obtained with the computer modeling with the field tests results was performed.

Keywords:

low-thrust liquid rocket engine, model of the thermal regime of a rocket engine, filtration combustion, computer simulation, coupled heat exchange

References

1. Leverone F., Cervone A., Gill E. Cost analysis of solar thermal propulsion systems for microsatellite applications, Acta Astronautica, 2019, no.155, pp. 90-110. DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.11.025
2. Ulybyshev S.Yu. Trudy MAI, 2019, no. 106. URL: https://trudymai.ru/eng/published.php?ID=105746
3. Wucherer E.J., et al. Hydrazine Catalyst Production-Sustaining S-405 Technology, 39th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 2003, pp. 5079. DOI: 10.2514/6.2003-5079
4. Lee K.H. et al. Firing Performance Measurement of Monopropellant Decomposition Catalyst and Domestic Development Status, Journal Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers, 2006, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 109-117.
5. McRight P. et al. Confidence Testing of Shell 405 and S-405 Catalysts in a Monopropellant Hydrazine Thruster, 41st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 2005. DOI: 10.2514/6.2005-3952
6. Kovateva Yu.S., Bogacheva D.Yu. Trudy MAI, 2013, no. 65. URL: https://trudymai.ru/eng/published.php?ID=40191
7. Formalev V.F., Kolesnik S.A. Trudy MAI, 2014, no. 78. URL: https://trudymai.ru/eng/published.php?ID=53710
8. Mitrofanova Yu.A., Zagitov R.A., Trusov P.V. Trudy MAI, 2023, no. 132. URL: https://trudymai.ru/eng/published.php?ID=176856
9. Sarazov A.V., Kozelkov A.S., Strelets D. Yu., Zhuchkov R. N., Modeling Object Motion on Arbitrary Unstructured Grids Using an Invariant Principle of Computational Domain Topology: Key Features, Symmetry, 2023, vol. 15 (11), pp. 2081. DOI: 10.3390/sym15112081
10. Kozelkov A.S., Galanov N.G., Semenov I.V., Zhuchkov R.N., Strelets D.Yu. Computational Investigation of the Water Droplet Effects on Shapes of Ice on Airfoils, Aerospace, 2023, vol. 10, pp. 906. DOI: 10.3390/aerospace10100906
11. Babkin V.S., Laevskii Yu.M. Fizika goreniya i vzryva, 1987, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 27-44.
12. Kesten A.S. Analytical study of catalytic reactors for hydrazine decomposition. Quarterly progress report, 1966. URL: https://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19680001165/mode/1up
13. Babkin V.S., Drobyshevich V.I., Laevskii Yu.M., Potytnyakov S.I. Fizika goreniya i vzryva, 1983, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 17-26.
14. Babkin V.S., Drobyshevich V.I., Laevskii Yu.M., Potytnyakov S.I. Doklady AN SSSR. 1983, no. 2, pp. 1157–1161.
15. Kandryukova T.A., Laevskii Yu.M. Sibirskii zhurnal industrial'noi matematiki, 2015, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 49-60.
16. Rychkov A.D., Shokina N.Yu. Vychislitel'nye tekhnologii, 2003, vol. 8, pp. 124-144.
17. Laevskii Yu.M., Yausheva L.V. Sibirskii zhurnal vychislitel'noi matematiki, 2009, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 171-187.
18. Laevskii Yu.M., Popov P.E., Kalinkin A.A. Matematicheskoe modelirovanie, 2010, vol. 22, no. 3, 74-90.
19. Kutateladze S.S., Leont'ev A.I. Teplomassoobmen i trenie v turbulentnom pogranichnom sloe (Heat and mass transfer and friction in a turbulent boundary layer), Moscow, Energoamtomizdat, 1985, 320 p.
20. Krainov A.Yu., Min'kov L.L. Chislennye metody resheniya zadach teplo- i massoperenosa (Numerical methods for solving heat and mass transfer problems), Tomsk, STT, 2016, 92 p.
21. Avduevskii V.S., Galitseiskii B.M., Glebov G.A. et al. Osnovy teploperedachi v aviatsionnoi i raketno-kosmicheskoi tekhnike (Basic methods in aviation and rocket and space technology), Moscow, Mashinostroenie, 1992, 518 p.

Download