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CFD Analysis for Simulated Altitude Testing of Rocket Motors

2002; NRC Research Press; Volume: 48; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5589/q02-018

1712-8005

S. Sankaran, Tanguturi Satyanarayana, K. Annamalai, Kishore Visvanathan, V. Babu, T. Sundararajan,

Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory

This paper deals with the high-altitude simulation and testing of upper stage rocket motors with large-nozzle area ratios, using second-throat exhaust diffusers (STED). To evaluate the performance of such motors, the low-pressure environment of the flight situation has to be simulated in the ground-testing installation. The shock pattern developed outside the rocket nozzle in the diffuser system can effectively seal the vacuum test chamber and maintain the required low-vacuum condition in the test chamber. An attempt has been made, in the present study, to numerically compute the flow field in a STED coupled with a large vacuum chamber, for simulating the entire high-altitude-test configuration of a rocket motor. Simulations have been carried out for both cold- and hot-flow situations and for cases with and without a large vacuum chamber. The computational results compare favorably with available experimental results for both hot (γ = 1.2)-flow and cold (γ = 1.4)-flow situations. The operational characteristics of the STED system and the associated flow structure are discussed in detail.