Measurement and analysis in a subscale rocket combustor

David Helderman, Purdue University

Abstract

A project was developed to improve and implement new methods for measurement and analysis on the Purdue Hydrogen-Oxygen Multi-Element Experiment (HOMEE). The first step was the continued development and implementation of the Purdue Ignitor for reliable ignition. The overall development of the ignitor spanned several years, and has achieved a greater than 96% reliability overall, with no ignition failures on the HOMEE project. Further analytical improvements dictated the calibration of pressure transducers and venturis to provide well defined mass flow rate accuracy, determined to be 2.3%. New calibration setups and methods were developed to improve the accuracy. The pressure transducer setup was thoroughly analyzed and has proven useful in detecting nonlinear transducers prior to installation as well as the ability to identify nonfunctional transducers. Work was also completed on the temperature measurements by an investigation of non-uniform flow via intentional local O/F biasing. The local O/F biasing was done by changing the inlet area on two of the seven injectors such that the LOX flow to each was biased up to 15%. The data collected was inconclusive in determining the ability to detect small changes in the flow rates based on thermocouple data. Overall the improvements to the data collection and data reduction methods were significant, and the overall reliability of the hardware was demonstrated. The project greatly improved the overall understanding of the driving uncertainty parameters, (venturi CD and upstream venturi pressure) in the mass flow rate, and allowed for further improvements to be concentrated on those parameters achieving larger gains in lowering the uncertainty.

Degree

M.S.A.A.

Advisors

Anderson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Aerospace engineering|Mechanical engineering

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