Numerical comparison of exhaust plume flow behaviors of small monopropellant and bipropellant thrusters.

Abstract

In general, a space propulsion system has a crucial role in the normal mission operations of a spacecraft. Depending on the types and number of propellants, a monopropellant and a bipropellant thrusters are mostly utilized for low thrust liquid rocket engines. As the plume gas flow exhausted from these small thrusters expands freely in a vacuum space environment along all directions, adverse effects of the plume impingement onto the spacecraft surfaces can dramatically reduce the function and performance of a spacecraft. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to investigate and compare the major differences of the plume gas flow behaviors numerically between the small monopropellant and bipropellant thrusters. To ensure efficient numerical calculations, the whole physical domain was divided into three different subdomains depending on the flow conditions, and then the appropriate numerical methods were combined and applied for each subdomain sequentially. With the present analysis results, the plume gas behaviors including the density, the overall temperature and the separation of the chemical species are compared and discussed between the monopropellant and the bipropellant thrusters. Consequently, the present results are expected to provide useful information on selecting the appropriate propulsion system, which can be very helpful for actual engineers practically during the design process.