An analytical and experimental study of a hybrid rocket motor

Abstract

The hybrid rocket motor is a kind of chemical propulsion system that has been recently given serious attention by various industries and research centers. The relative simplicity, safety and low cost of this motor, in comparison with other chemical propulsion motors, are the most important reasons for such interest. Moreover, throttle-ability and thrust variability on demand are additional advantages of this type of motor. In this paper, the result of an internal ballistic simulation of hybrid rocket motor in a zero-dimensional form is presented. Further to validate the code, an experimental setup was designed and manufactured. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data and good agreement is achieved. The effect of various parameters on the motor performance and on the combustion products is also investigated. It is found that increasing the oxidizer flow rate, increases the pressure and specific impulse of the motor; however, the slope of the specific impulse for the high flow rate case reduces. In addition, by increasing the combustion chamber pressure, the specific impulse is increased considerably. The initial diameter of the fuel port does not have significant effect on the pressure chamber and on the specific impulse. Addition of a percentage of an oxidizer like ammonium perchlorate to the fuel increases the specific impulse linearly.

Numerical Simulation of Chemical Propulsion Systems: Survey and Fundamental Mathematical Modeling Approach

“…Since HPRMs are a system that combines the advantages of LPREs and SPRMs, HPRMs are capable of thrust control, safe, and simple, so research on HPRMs has been performed on a laboratory scale at universities or in countries starting space development. Because of the advantages of HPRMs, the performance can be predicted and verified through simultaneous simulation and experimental approaches [96][97][98][99][100][101]. Moreover, in recent years, since the private sector of the space industry has made significant advances as an independent supplier of launch rockets, which support national programs (construction of satellites, re-search equipment, etc.)…”

“…and are mostly small launchers (also mini-launchers), HPRMs have become very promising for developing a small launch vehicle in this trend. For this reason, as the interest in HPRMs has increased significantly recently, the interest in developing an HPRM simulation model has also increased [9,102], and this interest has led to the development of simulation modeling of an HPRM to predict and evaluate its performance under various operating conditions [96][97][98][99][100]103,104]. In addition, vertical take-off and vertical landing (VTVL) has become one of the essential features of recent spacecrafts, so a simulation modeling approach has become important to design appropriate control algorithms because an HPRM has a simple structure and deep throttling capability [105].…”

Design and performance evaluation of a novel H2/O2 electro-chemical hybrid thruster

“…Different from the electric thruster, chemical propulsion 9–11 is characterized by large thrust, but its specific impulse is strongly limited by the energy stored in the chemical bonds of the propellant and is impossible to exceed 500 s (i.e., the value theoretically predicted by a H 2 /O 2 detonation engine in a vacuum environment) 12,13 . This indicates that more propellant would be consumed when performing the manned deep space exploration which requires large velocity increments (∆v).…”

Experimental Study of Fuel Regression Rate in a HTPB/N2O Hybrid Rocket Motor

“…However, the speci c impulse increases considerably as the chamber pressure increases, Figure 17. This is due to the increase in the thrust coe cient (C F ) with pressure that creates a higher thrust [1].…”

“…The injection of oxidizer into the combustion chamber, followed by its mixture with the vaporized fuel, produces di usion ames over the surface of the fuel (Figure 2) [1]. Heat transference from the surface of the ame to the fuel causes continuity of fuel evaporation and sustainability of the combustion.…”