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Numerical analysis of fuel regression rate distribution characteristics in hybrid rocket motors with different fuel types

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Abstract

This paper presents three-dimensional numerical simulations of the hybrid rocket motor with hydrogen peroxide (HP) and hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) propellant combination and investigates the fuel regression rate distribution characteristics of different fuel types. The numerical models are established to couple the Navier-Stokes equations with turbulence, chemical reactions, solid fuel pyrolysis and solid-gas interfacial boundary conditions. Simulation results including the temperature contours and fuel regression rate distributions are presented for the tube, star and wagon wheel grains. The results demonstrate that the changing trends of the regression rate along the axis are similar for all kinds of fuel types, which decrease sharply near the leading edges of the fuels and then gradually increase with increasing axial locations. The regression rates of the star and wagon wheel grains show apparent three-dimensional characteristics, and they are higher in the regions of fuel surfaces near the central core oxidizer flow. The average regression rates increase as the oxidizer mass fluxes rise for all of the fuel types. However, under same oxidizer mass flux, the average regression rates of the star and wagon wheel grains are much larger than that of the tube grain due to their lower hydraulic diameters.

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Abbreviations

A :

Arrhenius pre-exponential constant

a :

Regression rate leading coefficient

A p :

Fuel port area

A p 0:

Initial fuel port area

c :

Specific heat

d :

Diameter, hydraulic diameter

E :

Activation energy

G o :

Oxidizer mass flux

e :

Energy

k :

Kinetic energy of turbulent fluctuations

L :

Fuel line length of a cross section

M :

Molecular weight

m o :

Oxidizer mass flow rate

n :

Flux exponent

p :

Pressure

Q :

Rate of heat transfer

R :

Universal gas constant

R i,r :

Rate of production of species i due to reaction r

r :

Fuel regression rate

T :

Tempreture

t :

Time

u :

Velocity

x, y, z :

Coordinate system

Y :

Mass fraction

ɛ :

Turbulence dissipation rate

γ :

Density

µ:

Viscosity

v i, r ′:

Stoichiometric coefficient for reactant i in reaction r

v i,r ″:

Stoichiometric coefficient for product i in reaction r

λ :

Thermal conductivity

con:

Conductive

eq:

Equivalent

f:

Fuel

g:

Gas products

n:

normal direction

P:

product species

p:

fuel port

pyr:

pyrolyze

R:

reactant

r:

reaction

rad:

radiative

ref:

reference

s:

fuel surface

star:

star grain

sol:

solid

tot:

total

tub:

tube grain

wag:

wagon wheel grain

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    XinTian Li, Hui Tian & GuoBiao Cai

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  1. XinTian Li
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  2. Hui Tian
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  3. GuoBiao Cai
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Correspondence to GuoBiao Cai.

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Li, X., Tian, H. & Cai, G. Numerical analysis of fuel regression rate distribution characteristics in hybrid rocket motors with different fuel types. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 56, 1807–1817 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-013-5251-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-013-5251-0

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