Design Project for Aerospace Specialization and Student Research on the Combustion of Bio-Derived Rocket Fuels

Naoumov, Viatcheslav; Masoud, Nidal Al; Sansevero, Peggy; Guadagnoli, Lucian; Moni, Anne Marie; Loukides, David

doi:10.2514/6.2014-0060

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Unfortunately, it is difficult and impractical to collect all of the unburned fuel to calculate the losses. As a result of previous attempts to estimated losses, an indirect method of the estimation of losses was proposed 18,19 . The Method is based on local combustion product temperature measurements taken in the exhaust plum (Fig.…”

Section: Estimation Of the Loss Of Fuel And Experimental Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same results were obtained for 0.5 in grains. Regression rates of the combustion of paraffin with 10% of aluminum powder as a function of mass flow rate of the oxidizer for 1.0in gain (15) and 0.5in grain (16), mass flux of oxidizer for both 1.0in and 0.5in grains inner diameters (17), propellant mass flow rate for 1.0in grain (18) and 0.5in grain (19), and combustion chamber pressure for 1.0in grain (20) and 0.5in grain (21) were approximated by the following formulas: …”

Section: Study Of the Combustion Of Paraffin Wax And Paraffin Wamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to perform long-term research on the combustion of bio-derived fuels and fuels with additives and obtain regression rates, a lab-scale HPRE test fixture was designed, built, and fabricated in 2010 by a group of Mechanical Engineering students at Central Connecticut State University [15][16][17][18][19] (Fig.4). The engine itself consists of a mixing chamber, a combustion chamber with an inner tube to house the solid propellant grain, and a conical graphite nozzle assembly.…”

Section: Test Apparatus For the Research Of Combustion Of Bio-dermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Undergraduate Research on Peculiarities of the Combustion of Ecologically Clean Paraffin Wax Fuels in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engines

Naoumov

Masoud

Skomin

et al. 2015

53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting

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The paper describes the student-faculty research of the combustion of non-conventional bio-derived fuels in a lab-scale Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engine (HPRE). The long-term goal of the senior capstone project is to study specific features of combustion of nonconventional bio-derived hybrid propellant rocket fuels such as paraffin, beeswax, and lard, which are non-toxic and non-explosive with different oxidizers. Combustion of above fuels with additives (aluminum powder) was studied as well. The study was concentrated on the obtaining of regression rates (velocities of the combustion) for the listed propellants, and investigating losses of melted unburned bio-derived fuels. Such fuels could replace conventional toxic and explosive fuels, and are planned to be used on the NASA sounding rockets. A lab-scale HPRE, test fixture and instrumentation system have been designed, manufactured, assembled and used for the research and analysis of combustion. More than 60 tests were performed to study the specific features of combustion using paraffin and bee's wax. The results of the study were presented at 51 st AIAA Meeting and Exhibits, and SciTech, 52 nd Aerospace Sciences Meeting. This paper summarizes 2013/14 research results on the combustion of paraffin and paraffin with aluminum powder; represents new findings, such as regression rate formulas for paraffin wax combustion with 10% of aluminum powder obtained for two different diameters of the grain ports; the paper also illuminates the study of the losses of unburned paraffin wax and discusses novel methodology of the prediction of losses of unburned fuel based on the measurements of the temperature of the exhaust plum of combustion products. Nomenclature T-Thrust, N e u -Velocity of combustion products at nozzle exit, m/s e A -Exit area of the nozzle, m 2 e p -Pressure at the exit of the nozzle, Pa P -Pressure in the combustion chamber, psig a p -Ambient pressure, Pa k -Mass oxidizer-to-fuel ratio st k -Stoichiometric mass oxidizer-to-fuel ratio 1 Professor, 2 Figure 1. Simplified diagram of HPRE Figure 2. Simplified schematic of the combustion in HPRE 2 R -Gas constant sp I -Specific impulse m/s or s f m  -Mass flow rate of fuel, kg/s ox m  -Mass flow rate of oxidizer, kg/s p m  -Mass flow rate of propellant, kg/s f G -Average mass flux of fuel through the grain port, g/cm 2 s ox G -Average mass flux of oxidizer through the grain port, g/cm 2 s p G -Average mass flux of propellant through the grain port, g/cm 2 s i A -Cross-sectional area of injector, m 2 a -Jet coefficient m u -Velocity on the axis of the plume of the combustion products, m/s  r -Regression rate, mm/s in d -Initial port diameter (before fuel burnout), cm fin d -Final port diameter (after fuel burnout), cm * A -Nozzle throat area, m 2  -Specific heat ratio

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Section: Estimation Of the Loss Of Fuel And Experimental Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Of the Combustion Of Paraffin Wax And Paraffin Wamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Test Apparatus For the Research Of Combustion Of Bio-dermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Undergraduate Research on Peculiarities of the Combustion of Ecologically Clean Paraffin Wax Fuels in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engines

Naoumov

Masoud

Skomin

et al. 2015

53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting

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“…The field of beeswax-fueled hybrid chemical propulsion is considerably underdeveloped compared to paraffin. An extensive search of literature related to beeswax hybrid rocket fuels yields a series of initial studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville culminating in two postgraduate theses [10,34,35], a series of annual senior design projects at Central Connecticut State University [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], and the lone peer reviewed article in the field of beeswax propulsion by the Egyptian Space Technology Centre [45]. Most of these works generally investigated a broad range of bioderived hybrid rocket fuels, but beeswax consistently proved most practical as a hybrid rocket fuel.…”

Section: B Beeswax 1) Evaluation As a Hybrid Rocket Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A series of studies by Naoumov et al from 2013 to 2020 attempted to establish regression rate comparisons between paraffin, beeswax, and each of these with up to 10% micron-sized aluminum powder added for fuel grain port diameters of 12.7, 25.4, and 38.1 mm at combustion chamber pressures of 0.448 to 0.965 MPa [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Over 150 hot fires were conducted with gaseous oxygen alongside theoretical thermodynamic calculations which showed (1) little influence of aluminum addition on regression rate, (2) experimentally-determined regression rates of beeswax above those for paraffin reported by Karabeyoglu [3] but below those for beeswax reported by Putnam [35] at similar conditions; namely, oxidizer mass fluxes between 0.7 and 1.75 g/cm 2 s. Experimental efforts in these studies were plagued with low oxidizer mass flow rates (0.5-0.95 equivalence ratios), though in the most recent work attempts at increasing the mass flow rate of gaseous oxygen proved successful [44].…”

Section: B Beeswax 1) Evaluation As a Hybrid Rocket Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin and Beeswax for Hybrid Rockets

Stober

Sanchez

Wanyiri

et al. 2020

AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2020 Forum

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A high-level research framework is presented which seeks to navigate the barriers associated with reusing wax phase change material onboard a satellite as a hybrid rocket fuel for de-orbit or other in-space propulsion needs, while also conducting fundamental studies of the fluid mechanics and heat transfer phenomena which drive the cooling and solidification of wax within a horizontal rotating cylinder in various gravitational and thermal environments. A detailed review of past work in the area of beeswax fuel for hybrid chemical propulsion is reported and served to motivate consideration of this fuel for centrifugal casting efforts, due to previously reported values of regression rate comparable to that of paraffin wax. The production process of beeswax fuel from beekeeping detritus was perfected and documented. Analysis of the shrinkage of beeswax and the neat Candlewic FR5560 paraffin wax used herein determined a volume shrinkage percentage during liquid to solid phase transition of 18.7 ± 0.62 and 13.3 ± 0.22%, respectively. An image analysis routine was developed in order to automate the process of determining the instantaneous solidification rate for each one-second timestep through the centrifugal casting process of paraffin and beeswax fuel grain sizes common for small-scale hybrid rockets. Beeswax completed solidification in 22% less time than paraffin under identical conditions but exhibited more coning of resulting solid wax. Calculated time-and space-averaged solidification rates for paraffin and beeswax were 0.017 and 0.028 mm/s, respectively, within a 50.8 mm inner diameter, 57.15 mm outer diameter, and 254 mm length polycarbonate tube. Careful analysis, however, shows that instantaneous solidification rate increases very slightly but steadily over time for both paraffin and beeswax, though the rate increase is greater for beeswax. The image analysis routine was most effective when applied to the beeswax solidification process as compared to that of paraffin, as the solid/liquid interface is considerably more salient in beeswax due to a distinct color change upon solidification. Dye will be used with paraffin casting in the future with the goal of improving solid/liquid phase contrast.

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Study of the Combustion of Pure Bio-Derived Fuels and Bio-Derived Fuels with Additives in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engine

Naoumov

Masoud

Sherman

et al. 2017

55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting

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Design Project for Aerospace Specialization and Student Research on the Combustion of Bio-Derived Rocket Fuels

Cited by 6 publications

References 7 publications

Undergraduate Research on Peculiarities of the Combustion of Ecologically Clean Paraffin Wax Fuels in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engines

Undergraduate Research on Peculiarities of the Combustion of Ecologically Clean Paraffin Wax Fuels in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engines

Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin and Beeswax for Hybrid Rockets

Study of the Combustion of Pure Bio-Derived Fuels and Bio-Derived Fuels with Additives in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engine

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