Choosing the mixing pattern for oxygen-hydrogen low-thrust rocket engines

Abstract

The article presents the results of comparison of computation data on the energy parameters of the working process of engines and the thermal condition of the structure obtained for low-thrust rocket engines fueled by gaseous oxygen-hydrogen, using various schemes of mixture formation. The analysis of the efficiency of the working process is carried out on the basis of the patterns of distribution of combustion products temperature in the cross sections of combustion chambers, temperature diagrams, their values in the area of the engine chamber wall and the specific thrust impulse. It is shown that the chosen tools fully characterize the efficiency of the working process implemented in various schemes of mixing in engines and make it possible to assess the quality of a particular scheme. It was found that for most of the parameters used and additional criteria for evaluating the efficiency of the mixture formation scheme for low-thrust rocket engines, the scheme implementing a rotational coaxial multistage flow of gaseous fuel components in the chamber is preferable.

Keywords

• low-thrust rocket engines
• gaseous oxygen-hydrogen fuel
• mixing pattern
• design parameters of the working process
• combustion products temperature distribution
• specific thrust impulse