ABSTRACT |
In this paper the combustion performance of tripropellants consisting of LOX/hydrocarbon fuel and solid metals was evaluated.Thermochemical calculations were performed to evaluate specific impulse,specific density impulse and the combustion properties of LOX/kerosene/Be,LOX/kerosene/B,LOX/kerosene/Mg and LOX/kerosene/Al tripropellants.The specific impulse advantage of LOX/kerosene/Be over bipropellants was demonstrated,and consideration of specific density impulse justifies the use of heavier elements such as aluminum,magnesium and boron.Experiments were conducted to evaluate the combustion characteristics of oxygen/kerosene/aluminum tripropellants using single-element injectors and a water-cooled combustion chamber.Two kinds of unlike-impinging element (F-O-F) injectors were tested using liquid oxygen and one kind of coaxial injector was tested using gaseous oxygen.The fuel used was a kerosene/aluminum mixture which consisted of aluminum particles,with a meam diameter of 1.9~3.1μm in mean diameter,spended in kerosene fuel.The aluminum concentration in the total fuel mass varied from approximately 1 to 20 Wt%.The tested combustion pressure was 4MPa,and the mixture ratios were from 1.4 to 5.1. Experimental results demonstrated a significant improvement in combustion stability with the use of the impinging type of injector,and an increase in C* efficiency was achieved the coaxial type injector by the addition of aluminum to kerosene fuel. |