Effects of LOX Particle Diameter on Combustion Characteristics of a Gas-Liquid Pintle Rocket Engine

Abstract

LOX/GCH4 pintle injector is suitable for variable-thrust liquid rocket engines. In order to provide a reference for the later design and experiments, three-dimensional numerical simulations with the Euler-Lagrange method were performed to study the effect of the initial particle diameter on the combustion characteristics of a LOX/GCH4 pintle rocket engine. Numerical results show that, as the momentum ratio between the radial LOX jet and the axial gas jet is 0.033, the angle between the LOX particle trace and the combustor axial is very small. Due to the large recirculation zones, premixed combustion mainly occurs in the injector wake region. As the initial LOX particle diameter increases, the LOX evaporation rate and the combustion efficiency decrease until the combustion terminates with the initial LOX particle diameter greater than 110 μm. The oscillation amplitude of the combustor pressure increases significantly along with the increase of the initial LOX particle diameter, and the low-frequency unstable combustion occurs when the initial LOX particle diameter exceeds 60 μm. The combustor pressure oscillation at about 40 Hz couples with the swinging process of spray and flame, while the unsteady LOX evaporation amplifies the combustor pressure oscillations at 80 Hz and its harmonic frequency.