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A two-dimensional boundary layer model for combustion chamber simulation

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Abstract

Different propulsion systems can be used for launching payloads into orbit and for attitude control, orbit correction and maneuvering of satellites. Liquid bipropellant thrusters are used in applications requiring high specific impulses and high thrust levels and numerical simulation models can reduce development costs and time. This work describes a new 2D numerical model based on the boundary layer equations for the simulation of spray combustion. This model can be applied to the preliminary design of rocket combustion chambers, and allows the determination of droplet vaporization lengths, chemical composition, temperature profile and other thermodynamic and propulsion parameters. The computation time is, in general, lower than more complex 2D and 3D simulation models. Liquid fuel and oxidizer are injected into the combustion chamber with known droplet sizes and a pre-existing gas flow, which represents combustion products recirculation. The governing equations are discretized using centered and backward finite differences and the solution is marched downstream, considering droplet evaporation, mixture and combustion of propellant vapors with pre-existing gases. Burning of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and dinitrogen tetroxide (NTO) was simulated with different mixture conditions and taking into account eleven product species. The model was validated by considering separately the different routines, comparing results of internal boundary layer flows, droplet evaporation and combustion products composition against expected theoretical behavior and results from other models. The influence of the equivalence ratio radial distribution on flow parameters was evaluated. The gas temperatures near the wall remained relatively constant after a certain distance downstream, depending on the local equivalence ratio distribution. The boundary layer remained very thin along the chamber due to the constant addition of combustion products.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the financial support from CAPES (Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico). Both financial supports are grants from Government institutions related to higher education and public research funding. The authors have no Conflict of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. The authors are solely responsible for the printed material included in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos, Brazil

    Erykson M. S. Costa, Marcio T. Mendonca & Fernando S. Costa

  2. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil

    Cesar A. V. Salvador

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  1. Erykson M. S. Costa
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  2. Marcio T. Mendonca
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  3. Fernando S. Costa
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  4. Cesar A. V. Salvador
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Correspondence to Marcio T. Mendonca.

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Technical Editor: Mario Eduardo Santos Martins.

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Costa, E.M.S., Mendonca, M.T., Costa, F.S. et al. A two-dimensional boundary layer model for combustion chamber simulation. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 46, 280 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-024-04843-9

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