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Effects of momentum ratio and Weber number on spray half angles of liquid controlled pintle injector

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Abstract

A pintle injector is advantageous for throttling a liquid rocket engine and reducing engine weight. This study explores the effects of momentum ratio and Weber number at various injection conditions on spray characteristics of the pintle injector for liquid-gas propellants. A liquid sheet is injected from a center pintle nozzle and it is broken by a gas jet from an annular gap. The pressure drops of propellants, and the pintle opening distance were considered as control variables; using 0.1 ∼1.0 as a bar for the pressure drop of the liquid injection, a 0.01∼0.2 bar for the pressure drop of gas jet and a 0.2∼ 1.0 mm for the pintle opening distance. The discharge coefficient was decreased linearly before the pintle opening distance of 0.75 mm and then, the coefficient was slightly increased. Spray images were captured by a CMOS camera with high resolution. Then, the shadow and reflected images were analyzed. Spray distributions were measured by a patternator with an axial distance of 50 mm from a pintle tip. Finally, the spray half angles had an exponentially decreasing correlation as a momentum ratio divided by the Weber number. Also, the spray half angles from the spray distribution were underestimated compared to those measured from the captured images.

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Abbreviations

A :

area (m2)

C d :

discharge coefficient

D :

diameter (mm)

H :

height (mm)

L :

distance (mm)

.m :

mass flow rate (kg/s)

M:

momentum ratio

ΔP :

injection pressure drop (bar)

t :

thickness (mm)

V :

velocity (m/s)

We:

Weber number

α :

spray half angle

ρ :

density (kg/m3)

σ :

surface tension (N/m)

Cg :

center gap

Cp :

center post

Gas :

gaseous

Ib :

inner body

Liq :

liquid

M :

measured

Ob :

outer body

Pe :

pintle end

Pg :

pintle gap

Pr :

pintle rod

Pt :

pintle tip

Tot :

total

w :

water

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Student, Korea Aerospace University, Goyang, Republic of Korea

    Min Son & Kijeong Yu

  2. School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Korea Aerospace University, Goyang, Republic of Korea

    Jaye Koo

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Oh Chae Kwon

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea

    Jeong Soo Kim

Authors
  1. Min Son
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  2. Kijeong Yu
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  3. Jaye Koo
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  4. Oh Chae Kwon
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  5. Jeong Soo Kim
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Additional information

This work was supported by Advanced Research Center Program (NRF-2013R1A5A1073861) through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIP) contracted through Advanced Space Propulsion Research Center at Seoul National University.

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Son, M., Yu, K., Koo, J. et al. Effects of momentum ratio and Weber number on spray half angles of liquid controlled pintle injector. J. Therm. Sci. 24, 37–43 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-015-0753-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-015-0753-7

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