Computational investigation of cooling effectiveness for film cooled dual-bell exhaust nozzle for LO2/LH2 liquid rocket engines

ABSTRACT

A dual bell nozzle (DBN) consists of two bell nozzles of different geometric area ratios attached at the region called inflection. This distinct geometry modification allows the nozzle to adapt to altitudes through its different operating modes. A numerical investigation with hot flow is done on a 2-dimensional axisymmetric model of a DBN having coolant injection at its inflection. Analysis has considered the secondary injection of gaseous hydrogen film into the gas mixture resulting from the combustion of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the thrust chamber of a LO2/LH2 engine. Model gave a root mean square deviation of 0.0012 from the experimental result at 30 NPR. Flow phenomena inside the nozzle are studied for different altitudes with and without coolant injection. Shift of separation location inside the nozzle on changing the quantity of gaseous hydrogen injected for three nozzle pressure ratios in the range of operation of the nozzle is calculated. The nondimensional shift in separation location is estimated to be 1.34 at 30 NPR, 1.10 at 45 NPR and 0.70 at 60 NPR. Temperature distribution on nozzle wall and cooling effectiveness of coolant on nozzle wall is determined with varying coolant mass flow rate for LO2/LH2 and LO2/RP1 rocket engines and the results are compared. The effectiveness of coolant for LO2/LH2 engine reduces from 1 to 0.78 on moving downstream of the nozzle whereas it reduces from 1 to 0.27 for LO2/RP1 engine. The study also predicts reduction in specific impulse of 5% for LO2/LH2 engine and 3.3% for the LO2/RP1 engine at MR = 15 due to the film cooling.

KEYWORDS:

• Altitude compensation
• dual bell nozzle
• film cooling
• cooling effectiveness
• numerical study

Nomenclature

Table

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Martin Raju

Martin Raju received his Master's degree in Propulsion Engineering from College of Engineering Trivandrum. His research interests lies in the field of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. His current study focuses on understanding the flow physics associated with flow through altitude compensating nozzles with the help of computational fluid dynamics tools.

Abhilash Suryan

Abhilash Suryan received his Ph.D. in 2012 from Andong National University, South Korea. He had received his B. Tech. and M. Tech. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, University of Kerala, India, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He is currently a full time member of the faculty at College of Engineering Trivandrum. His research interests include energy efficiency, renewable energy, aerospace engineering, propulsion engineering, and fluid dynamics.

David Šimurda

David Šimurda received his Ph.D. in 2011 from Czech Technical University in Prague. Since 2006 he works at the Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences where he conducts experimental research on problems of internal flows including aerodynamics of supersonic turbine blade tip sections, transonic compressor blade tip sections and governing valve assemblies of steam turbines. Since 2019 he is also working as a lecturer in fluid mechanics at the Technical University of Liberec.