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Radiative heat transfer analysis in modern rocket combustion chambers

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Abstract

Radiative heat transfer is analyzed for subscale and fullscale rocket combustion chambers for H2/O2 and CH4/O2 combustion using the P1 radiation transport model in combination with various Weighted Sum of Gray Gases Models (WSGGMs). The influence of different wall emissivities, as well as the results using different WSGGMs, the size of the combustion chamber and the coupling of radiation and fluid dynamics, is investigated. Using rather simple WSGGMs for homogeneous systems yields similar results as using sophisticated models. With models for nonhomogeneous systems the radiative wall heat flux (RWHF) decreases by 25–30 % for H2/O2 combustion and by almost 50 % for CH4/O2 combustion. Enlarging the volume of the combustion chamber increases the RWHF. The influence of radiation on the flow field is found to be negligible. The local ratio of RWHF to total wall heat flux shows a maximum of 9–10 % for H2/O2 and 8 % for CH4/O2 combustion. The integrated heat load ratio is around 3 % for H2/O2 and 2.5 % for CH4/O2 combustion. With WSGGMs for nonhomogeneous systems, the local ratio decreases to 5 % (H2/O2) and 3 % (CH4/O2) while the integrated ratio is only 2 % (H2/O2) and 1.3 % (CH4/O2).

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Abbreviations

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

CWHF:

Convective wall heat flux

NSMB:

Navier–Stokes multiblock

RTE:

Radiative transfer equation

RWHF:

Radiative wall heat flux

SSME:

Space shuttle main engine

TWHF:

Total wall heat flux

WSGGM:

Weighted Sum of Gray Gases Model

a :

Absorption coefficient

C :

Absorption cross section

\(\bar{C}\) :

Mean absorption cross section

f :

Mixture fraction

e :

Radiation energy

F :

Blackbody distribution function

G :

Incident radiation

h q :

Reduced enthalpy

h :

Planck’s constant

i :

Radiation intensity

I :

Number of gray gases

n :

Refractive index

\(\vec{n}\) :

Normal vector

N :

Number density

q :

Heat flux

r :

Function of mixture

s :

Direction

S :

Path length

T :

Temperature

w :

Blackbody weight of gray gas

Γ:

Goulard number

ε :

Emissivity

\(\phi\) :

Scattering phase function

λ :

Wavelength

\(\rho\) :

Density

σ :

Scattering coefficient, Stefan–Boltzmann constant

ω :

Solid angle

b:

Blackbody property

c:

Carbon dioxide

i:

Index of gray gas, Numeration index

j:

Numeration index

mix:

Mixture

min:

Minimum

max:

Maximum

w:

Water vapor

λ :

Spectral value

∞:

Freestream value

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge support by Martin Göhring and Matthias Thoma who did most of the radiative transfer simulations as part of their Master’s theses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Thermodynamics, Universität der Bundeswehr München, LRT-10, 85577, Neubiberg, Germany

    Florian Goebel & Christian Mundt

  2. Airbus Defence and Space, System Analysis & Modeling TP22, 81663, Munich, Germany

    Björn Kniesner, Manuel Frey & Oliver Knab

Authors
  1. Florian Goebel
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  2. Björn Kniesner
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  3. Manuel Frey
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  4. Oliver Knab
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  5. Christian Mundt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Florian Goebel.

Additional information

This is an extended version of the paper published at the 5th European Conference for AeroSpace Sciences in 2013.

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Goebel, F., Kniesner, B., Frey, M. et al. Radiative heat transfer analysis in modern rocket combustion chambers. CEAS Space J 6, 79–98 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-014-0060-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-014-0060-2

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