Gelled MMH hypergolic droplet investigation

Yair Solomon, Purdue University

Abstract

Gelled propellants are promising candidates for certain future rocket applications, offering potential improvements in performance and/or safety over conventional liquid and solid systems. In particular, gelled hypergolic propellants can eliminate some handling difficulties by reducing leakage hazard. Before such systems can be developed, however, a fundamental understanding of combustion of the gel droplet is required. This study addresses the combustion behavior of monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) droplet gelled with both hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and fumed silica in an environment of gaseous nitrogen dioxide. All MMH/HPC gel droplets displayed swelling and jetting that are typical to hydrocarbon gels with an organic gelling agent. Burning rates were measured for droplet diameters from 1.8 to 3.2 mm at three ambient pressures of 1.72, 2.06 and 2.89 bar. It was found that the droplet burning rate is dependent on the droplet diameter similarly to liquid MMH. Over the investigated pressure range, no dependence of burning rate on pressure was found. The combustion of MMH/HPC gel was compared to MMH/tetraglyme to examine the influence the type of gelling agent. Droplets of MMH and liquid tetraglyme showed increasing swelling frequencies and volume fluctuations during combustion while the MMH and HPC droplets exhibited a more constant burning history. The MMH/Silica gels showed a different combustion mechanism with the formation of a rigid silica structure, micro-explosions, and up to a 50% reduction in droplet volume during combustion.

Degree

M.S.E.

Advisors

Anderson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Aerospace engineering

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