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Cryogenic Rocket Engine Development at Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering

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SP2016-3124644

C RYOGENIC ROCKET E NGINE D EVELOPMENT AT D ELFT A EROSPACE ROCKET E NGINEERING

Jeroen Wink,1 Rob Hermsen,1 Ralph Huijsman,1 Christ Akkermans,1 Luka Denies,1 Filipe Barreiro,2 Adriaan Schutte,3
Angelo Cervone,4 Barry Zandbergen5
Corresponding adress: j.wink@student.tudelft.nl
1Msc. Student Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 2 Bsc. Student Aerospace
Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 3 Heliaq Advanced Engineering 4 Assistant Professor
Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 5 Lecturer Aerospace Engineering, Delft
University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands

I ABSTRACT

This paper describes the current developments regarding cryogenic rocket engine technology at Delft Aerospace Rocket
Engineering (DARE). DARE is a student society based at Delft University of Technology with the goal of being the first student
group in the world to launch a rocket into space. After the launch of the hybrid engine powered Stratos II+ sounding rocket in
October 2015, DARE decided to investigate highly efficient liquid rocket engine technology . In this context DARE initiated
the cryogenic project with the goal of developing a liquid rocket engine using liquid oxygen and liquid methane as propellants
with a nominal thrust in the order of 10kN. Eventually this engine shall power a future sounding rocket into space.
As an intermediate step, a 3 kN class engine is being developed. Subsystem development tests and possibly a hot-fire test
campaign on this engine are planned for 2016 and its development intends to provide DARE with the required experience
and knowledge to develop large scale liquid rocket engines. The engine is developed in cooperation with Heliaq Advanced
Engineering and is designed to meet the requirements of the second stage engine of the ALV reusable launch vehicle.
The design is a pressure-fed engine, regeneratively cooled using the liquid methane fuel. After passing the coolant channels,
the methane is injected into the combustion chamber in gaseous state together with the liquid oxygen in a co-axial manner. The
engine is ignited by means of a pyrotechnic igniter using an ammonium perchlorate based propellant. During a test sequence,
the propellants are stored in insulated run-tanks and are pressurized using helium.
This paper describes the project objective, the current progress on the design and production, and finally four proposed
research topics that are indented to be conducted at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology.

II INTRODUCTION and uses (test) equipment acquired during that project. The
project objective and its connection to Stratos III and industry
Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE) is a student so- is explained further in section III.
ciety of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
The project started in 2015 and its members have up till
DARE has the goal to allow its students to do practical work
now developed conceptual and detailed designs for a number
on rocket related technology next to their studies. In this way
of subsystems, while for others hardware has already been
the society adds significantly to the educational tract of the
produced. The hardware consists of a cryogenic propellant
students where it concerns rocket engines and rocket subsys-
tank, while detailed design has been done on the rocket engine
tems. Within the society, work is conducted on all three types
cooling channels, the test setup feed system design, and the
of chemical rocket propulsion: solid, hybrid and liquid. Fur-
igniter design. This research is elaborated upon in section IV.
thermore there is experience on electronic systems, recovery
mechanisms, and active stabilization of the rocket in flight. To give the project a good scientific basis it is proposed
The current progress of the society culminated in the launch of that a number of research projects are conducted at Delft Uni-
the Stratos II+ rocket in October 2015 to the European record versity in conjunction with DARE, and possibly with industry.
of 21.5 km altitude for student rocketry. These research projects are intended to take the form of Master
DARE has the goal to eventually reach the edge of space of Science thesis projects that focus on different aspects of the
at 100 km. To achieve this a high efficiency propulsion system rocket engine. The proposed topics are: (1) Modeling of liquid
is needed, and therefore the development of a cryogenic liquid rocket engine instabilities and design to avoid these instabili-
rocket engine has started. The intended goal is to use liquid ties. (2) Design and modeling of the injector and studying its
oxygen and liquid methane in a pressure-fed, regeneratively relation to combustion instabilities. (3) Modeling and valida-
cooled engine. The methane is used as the coolant fluid. The tion by testing of the cryogenic propellant tank pressurization
project uses the experience gathered by DARE members dur- system and pressurant injector design and (4) the modeling
ing the Stratos II project and builds upon the lessons learned, and validation of a torch igniter system. All of these proposed

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

research topics are explained in section V. pared to the coking temperature of kerosene of 560 K. The
coking temperature is defined as the temperature at which the
III PROJECT OBJECTIVE fuel molecules start to polymerize, forming longer polymer
chains, resulting in a more viscous liquid that might cause
III.I Liquid Rocket Development within DARE deposits on the inside of the fluid lines. This high coking tem-
perature prevents carbon deposits to form in the regenerative
On the 16th of October 2015, the Stratos II+ sounding rocket cooling channels, which are typically observed in kerosene
broke the European Altitude Record with its launch from fueled rockets. This makes liquid methane very suitable for
the CEDEA Test Range in the south of Spain. Despite the reusable rocket engines [4]. As such, DARE wants to utilize
enormous success of this achievement, the rocket’s apogee of liquid methane as fuel for the cryogenic liquid rocket engine
21.5 km fell significantly short of the missions goal of flying project. Due to the limited availability and relatively high cost
halfway to space with a target altitude of 50 km. Amongst of purified methane, liquified natural gas (LNG) is considered
other issues, this shortfall in apogee underlines the need for as the preferred fuel.
Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE) to develop a
more efficient and powerful propulsion system in order to After an initial feasibility study, it was found that the cost and
achieve its goal of reaching space. Previous DARE rockets complexity involved in the logistics of both liquid methane and
have been powered by low performance solid rocket motors, LNG in relatively small quantities (meaning less then 1000 kg)
with an average sea level specific impulse of 100 s or, in are excessively high. As such, it is very likely that initial hot
the case of Stratos II+ by medium performing hybrid rocket fire tests in the context of the cryogenic liquid engine project
motors, with an average sea level specific impulse of 185 of DARE will be conducted with an alternative hydrocarbon
s. Within DARE however, knowledge and experience with fuel such as refined kerosene, propane or ethyl-alcohol. Of
liquid rocket engines is very limited [14]. The most signif- these alternative fuels, refined kerosene offers higher effi-
icant success with liquid rocket systems within DARE was ciency. However from a logistics perspective, ethyl alcohol
the successful static test campaign of the Deimos engine in is more straightforward to acquire. As such, it is likely that
2013 [5]. The Deimos engine, fueled by nitrous oxide and the initial hot-fire-tests will be performed with a propellant
ethane, however produced insufficient thrust and achieved combination of liquid oxygen and ethyl-alcohol. To further
an average specific impulse of only 175 s. Furthermore, the reduce the risks involved in initial hot fire testing, an engine
system proved to be unsuitable to be adapted in a flight system with reduced thrust will be tested first. The thrust of this initial
due to its low thrust to weight ratio. No significant progress in demonstrator engine has been selected to be 3 kN (sea level).
the field of liquid rocket propulsion systems has been achieved
within DARE since then.
III.II Application in the ALV-2 Launch Vehicle
To improve on this situation, a new project was initiated The Austral Launch Vehicle (ALV) is an international project
in November 2015 with the goal to develop and statically with the goal of developing a cost optimized reusable launch
demonstrate a high performance LRE with a thrust level com- vehicle. The basic concept behind the ALV is the clustering of
parable to that of the Stratos II+ rocket. The intended design fly-back boosters with fold-able wings. A schematic mission
thrust level will be between 10 and 15 kN (sea level). To overview is shown in figure 1. Initial studies showed that this
increase the practical value of the engine, in the context of concept has the potential to provide a modular, simple and
space access, the engine shall utilize a propellant combination flexible small satellite launch vehicle [25]. The first stage of a
of liquid oxygen and liquid methane. Liquid oxygen offers a launch vehicle is far larger than the upper stages (around 75%
significantly increased specific impulse and density compared of the launch mass) and is also much easier to recover due to
to nitrous oxide, previously used by DARE [18]. However, the relatively low speed. The use of flyback boosters (using
liquid oxygen offers significant challenges due to its reactivity wings and an air breathing engine) further limits firing of the
and cryogenic properties. As such a main goal of the project rocket engines to the ascent, saving as much of this valuable
is to gain practical experience in the design, logistics and oper- resource for future missions as possible. The focus of the
ations of liquid oxygen systems. In this context, cooperation ALV project is the development of the ALV-2 small satellite
with industry experts such as TNO and Airliquide has been launcher. This vehicle is aimed directly for small satellites
initiated. with a mass ranging between 1 and 10 kg. The second stage of
the ALV-2 vehicle produces a thrust of 3 kN. As such, the first
Liquid methane is a non-toxic cryogenic fuel. It offers a demonstrator engine developed by DARE is comparable to the
higher specific impulse compared to kerosene, whereas it is ALV-2 second stage and it is envisioned that the ALV-2 second
easier to store than hydrogen. Perhaps its most promising stage engine will be a derivation from the DARE cryogenic
merit is its relatively high coking temperature of 950 K, com- demonstrator engine.

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

Figure 1: Schematic overview of the ALV-2 Launch Vehicle mission concept.

IV CURRENT PROGRESS possibilities of a composite tank have also been investigated.

To mitigate the risk of fiber-matrix delamination due to thermal
IV.I Run Tank Development stresses, a glass fiber dry wound concept was selected. The re-
quired layup pattern was determined using the PresVes tool of
Initial investigations on the liquid oxygen tank have been per- the Delft based company Advanced Lightweight Engineering.
formed. The tank has been designed as a cylinder with simple PresVes takes the tank shell structure and defines a winding
flat bulkheads, made of aluminum AL-6082 T6 for an operat- pattern for a given burst pressure and polar opening area. Dry
ing pressure of 55 bar. The tank material was selected out of a Fiber winding is a technique where filaments are placed on
range of cryogen compatible materials mainly because of its the tank liner such that when the tank is loaded with internal
of-the-shelf availability in the desired diameter (250mm). Two pressure, all filaments are loaded in tension only. By making
concepts of how to fix the bulkheads to the cylinder wall where use of friction forces, no matrix is needed. PresVes finds the
developed. The first concept featured an arc-weld connection correct contour for this technique while making sure that it can
between the tank wall and the bulkheads. The second concept be manufactured with a tumble winder. The composite design
featured a radial bolt connection with the sealing achieved by under consideration has a liner of aluminum 6082-T6 with
means of a single Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) cov- a wall thickness of 2 mm and uses E10 glass fibers wrapped
ered spring loaded o-ring. In the arc-weld design, sealing was around the liner to provide the strength needed to withstand
achieved with the weld connection. For both designs, signifi- the pressure loads. A Finite Element model of the tank was
cant production constraints were imposed. Due to the limited created, which modeled both the structural and thermal proper-
production facilities that were available, the wall thickness ties of the tank when loaded by a pressure and a thermal load.
was constrained to 4 mm. Due to the same limited produc- The resulting mass estimate for a 40L tank was 1.8 kg and
tion techniques, the tank bulkheads were also designed with hence significantly lower compared to the aluminum designs.
a significant safety margin. A test run-tank, with a volume of However, thermal effects, such as potential delamination of
40L has been designed for both concepts. The resulting mass the fibers from the matrix or cracking of the liner, still need
estimates, predicted from the CAD software, are 12.8 kg for to be evaluated. As such, it is at this moment not clear if the
the arc-weld design and 12.9 kg for the bolted design. The composite design is a feasible option.
welded tank has already been produced with help from Linde
gas, who performed the welding. Construction of the bulkhead
design has been started but has not yet been completed. The

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

IV.II Cooling Channel Design Tool The methane in the cooling channels is assumed to have
uniform bulk properties at each station. The thermodynamic
A preliminary analysis was performed on the design of the
and transport properties are modeled with the GERG-2004
regenerative cooling channels. Two numerical models have
equation of state [19].
been developed to analyse the design: A simple and fast one-
dimensional model developed in Python, and an extensive anal-
A preliminary design of the cooling channels for the 3
ysis using the CFD library OpenFOAM. The one-dimensional
kN demonstrator engine has been made. From the thrust re-
analysis tool is called OMECA (One-dimensional Methane
quirement, a methane mass flow of 0.2712 kg/s can be derived.
Engine Cooling Analysis) and has been made publicly avail-
This flow is available for regenerative cooling. As reference
able [9]. The CFD analysis using OpenFOAM has also resulted
material, NARloy-Z was taken to represent a high-temperature
in additions to the OpenFOAM project, such as a library to
copper alloy. Its properties were taken from [15]. NARloy-Z
interpolate fluid properties at runtime [10]. For an extensive
has a temperature limit of approximately 800 K, above which it
discussion of the CFD analysis you are refered to the thesis
loses structural strength rapidly. For this reason, a design was
and paper of L. Denies [11, 12].
sought which limited the maximum wall temperature to 800
The OMECA code calculates the thermal equilibrium at
K. Straight channels in the axial direction were analyzed for
many axial stations in the nozzle. Semi-empirical relations are
reasons of simplicity. In the interest of re-usability, a chamber-
used to estimate the convective heat transfer coefficients of
saddle-jacket design was investigated. In such a design, the
the hot combustion gases and the coolant. These are the Bartz
chamber, throat saddle and outer jacket are separate parts that
equation given in equation 1 described in [1] and the Taylor
are not rigidly connected. This allows for thermal expansion
relation, given in equation 3 described in [31], respectively.
and eliminates or reduces fatigue constraints. For a copper
0.026 µ00.2C p,0 P0 0.8 At 0.9 chamber, a chamber wall thickness of 3 mm is sufficient to
   
αh = 0.2 0.6 ∗
s (1) withstand the 50 bar inward pressure of the coolant. Figure
Dt Pr0 c A
2 shows the heat flux, wall temperature and geometry of a
With s being defined as: possible regenerative cooling design. The solid black line
shows the thrust chamber contour, while the dotted-dashed
1 −0.68 γ − 1 2 −0.12 line shows the incoming heat flux estimated with the Bartz
     
1 Tt,h γ −1 2
s= 1+ M + 1+ M equation. 44 cooling channels are spread around the engine,
2 T0 2 2 2
(2) varying in width so as to keep the rib thickness at 1 mm. The
blue dotted line shows the variation in channel depth that is
 (0.57−1.59D/x)
Tb necessary to keep the wall temperature (in green) below the
Nub = 0.023Re0.8b Prb
0.4
(3) limit of 800 K.
Tt

Figure 2: Chamber Contour, Channel Depth, Heatflux and Wall Temperature of the described cooling design

SP2016-3124644 4
 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

This analysis shows that it is possible to keep the cop- chamber, it was investigated whether it was feasible to cre-
per chamber wall below the allowable temperature with the ate an aluminum chamber design. Due to the low allowable
given methane coolant flow. It further shows that a decrease temperature of the latter (around 500 K) and the small engine
in channel depth to 0.5 mm is necessary near the combustion size, this was deemed not feasible. Since the methane rises to
chamber. This is due to the heating up of the coolant as it flows approximately this temperature while cooling the engine, it is
from the nozzle towards the combustion chamber. The sharp not adequate to keep the aluminum sufficiently cool.
drop in temperature near the throat is due to the decrease in
radius and associated decrease in cooling channel hydraulic IV.III Test Setup Feed System Design
diameter. This increases the coolant velocity and therefore the
convective cooling. Within the project a feed system design has been drawn up for
the ground test setup of the cryogenic engine. This first design
The high outlet temperature illustrates the difficulty of per- is shown in figure 3. It is a schematic feed-system design made
forming regenerative cooling for a small liquid rocket engine. to determine the kind and amount of components required, and
This difficulty is due to the relatively large surface area with to determine how they need to be connected. Based on this
respect to the amount of coolant. In addition to the copper design the acquisition of feed system parts has been started.

N₂ N₂
Symbol legend
Crossing lines
(not connected)
Branch connection

Check valve
Generic valve
Hand-actuated
valve

Pneumatic-actuated He He
ball-valve
Filter

Venturi LOX LCH₄

Burst disk

Pressure relief
valve
Compressed
gas regulator

Propellant
tank

Combustion
chamber

Gas cylinder LOX LCH₄

Dewar

Figure 3: Schematic design for the DARE ground test setup cryogenic feed system. The connections to a dump-line for all
pressure relief and dump ports, as well as the placement of sensors, are not indicated in this diagram.

The whole feed system has a symmetric build-up with the post-burn purging. A low pressure nitrogen line will be used
LOX on one side and LCH4 on the other. The lines for both for pneumatic valve actuation.
systems are virtually the same, with the exception that the Both propellants will be stored in a cryogenic dewar prior
methane is led through the cooling channels of the chamber. to testing. Filling of the run-tanks will be done by opening the
Next to these two propellant lines there is one high pressure valves between dewar and run-tank and opening the vent-valve
nitrogen purge line going into the combustion chamber for on top of the propellant tank. Within the line a filter is placed

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

to prevent particulates entering the system from the dewar side. do not need to be sized to yield a specific mixture ratio and
Level control of the propellant tank can be done by mass mea- only need to have sufficient pressure drop for combustion sta-
surement of the tank and possibly the use of a dip-tube. Other bility. An overview of the injector element design parameters
methods of liquid level measuring such as thermal sensors and is presented in table 1.
optical sensors are however being investigated as the mass Table 1: Injector Element Design Input
measurement may be inaccurate, and the dip-tube method is
not preferred as it would mean liquid oxygen would flow via Parameter Unit Value
the dump line. Total engine thrust kN 3
Pressurization of both propellant tanks will be done using Combustion pressure bar 40
gaseous helium supplied from standard industrial gas cylinders. Number of elements # 6
The usage of nitrogen as pressurant in ground tests has been Thrust per element N 500
discarded as nitrogen condenses into the LOX and dissolves Estimated Specific Impulse s 280
into the LCH4 [23]. Often the added cost of helium versus Oxidizer flow rate g/s 136.8
nitrogen is cited as reason to use nitrogen in ground tests, Fuel flow rate g/s 45.2
however the cost difference between them has been deemed
insignificant, especially when compared to the costs of the full Using reference data based on the RD-0110 engine, a liq-
system and the propellants. uid oxygen injector velocity of 5 m/s has been selected at
Both main lines are equipped with two main valves in se- suitable starting value [24]. This injection velocity, in combi-
ries. One of these will act as the main valve during regular nation with a pressure drop over the injector element of 6 bar,
operations, while the second is there to provide redundancy in results in a required discharge coefficient Cd of 0.154. With the
an emergency, when the feed system needs to be closed. All discharge coefficient of the swirl chamber determined, Other
sections of the line that can entrap cryogenic propellant, such parameters can be obtained via figure 4.
as between these two valves, are equipped with a pressure
relief system.
Both lines include a cavitating venturi as last element
before the combustion chamber. These elements have been
placed there to provide a simple way to stabilize the mass flow
into the chamber, and as a precautionary measure to decouple
the feed system from combustion chamber instabilities.
At the moment of writing, no decision on the exact sensors
has been made. However, in order to fully characterize the
behavior of the fluids in the feed system and the performance
of the engine, a number of digital pressure transducers will be
used. Critical locations of these pressure transducers are on
the two run tanks, on the combustion chamber, on the cooling
jacket inlet and on the injector inlet of both the liquid oxygen
dome and the fuel manifold. Mass flow measurements of the
propellants will most likely be obtained via turbine type flow Figure 4: Swirl Injector half fan angle α, discharge coefficient
meters. An alternative mass flow measurement could come µ, liquid film ratio φ , nozzle swirl velocity U¯un and Nozzle
from pressure sensors measuring the static pressure in the cav- Axial Velocity U¯an as function of characteristic coefficient
itating venturi inlets and throats. Additionally, averaged mass A. Obtained from [2]
flow measurements will be obtained by suspending the run
tanks on load cells. In order to allow for a total massflow of 136.8 g of liquid
oxygen, yields an oxygen outlet nozzle radius of 2.76 mm.
IV.III Injector Element Design With a discharge coefficient of 1.54, Bazarov presents a pre-
diction of geometric characteristic coefficient A equal to 6,
Due to its high mixing efficiency for both liquid-liquid and with A being defined as:
liquid-gaseous injector schemes, the swirl coaxial element is
selected [17]. The design of the injector element is based on An Rin
the guidelines published by Bazarov [2]. In this approach, the A= (4)
Ain Rn
pressure drop over the entire element is determined via the
principle of maximum flow for swirling liquids. As described, With An being the total area of the injector exit nozzle, Rin
the massflow of fuel and oxidizer in the feedsystem is con- the radial location of the center of inlet passages, Ain the total
trolled via cavitating venturies. As such, the injector elements area of the inlet passages and Rn nozzle exit radius. The radial

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

location of the center of the inlet passages is determined by: degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure. At elevated pressures
the auto ignition temperature tends to decrease [32], but the
Rin = R¯n Rn (5) exact mixture ratio at ignition is uncertain. Therefore the re-
Where Bazarov suggest a value of R¯n of 0.8 for open combus- quired temperature of the propellants for ignition is taken to
tion cycles (pressure fed and gas generator cycles). Using the be equal to 800 K as a safe first estimate.
value of 0.8, the radial position becomes equal to 2.21 mm. Table 2: Propellant properties at the injector face
Initially, a total of 3 tangential inlet channels are selected.This
yields an inlet channel radius is equal to 0.582 mm. Bazarov Parameter Unit Value
proposes an l/d ratio of the tangential inlet channels of 2, Oxidiser injection temperature K 90
yielding a tangential inlet channel length of 2.32 mm. Further- Oxidiser injection phase - liquid
more, Bazarov recommends a length of the vortex chamber Fuel injection temperature K 112
to be equal to 2 times the radial location of the inlet passages Fuel injection phase - liquid
and a nozzle length equal to the nozzle diameter, yielding a
In order to determine the energy delivered per unit of mass
vortex chamber length of 4.42 mm and a nozzle length equal
by APCP propellant, the enthalpy change resulting from the
to 5.52 mm.
combustion can be determined using a chemical equilibrium
software tool like RPA or NASA’s CEA. Because the exact
For the gaseous methane stage of the injector, a total massflow
composition of the commercially available propellant grains is
of 45 g/s and a similar pressure drop of 6 bar is required.
unknown it is however not easy to obtain the enthalpy change.
Following the same procedure, and taking into account a wall
From the propellant safety data sheets of the Cesaroni Pro-X
thickness of 0.5 mm between the oxygen and the methane
grains [6] a composition of 85% APCP and 15% HTPB is
post, we get a required discharge coefficient of 0.151, yielding
deducted, yielding an O/F ratio of 5.67. The igniter heating
a characteristic geometric coefficient of A = 6. Following this
power Pi above the auto ignition temperature of 800 K is then
procedure yields a fuel tangential inlet radius of 1.06 mm (for
determined using the equation:
three channels), the tangential inlet radial location distance of
2.484 mm and a fuel post length of 5.52 mm.
Pi = ṁi (Hi − Hre f ) (6)
IV.IV Pyrotechnic Igniter Design Where Hi is the enthalpy of the gas leaving the igniter
in kJkg−1 , Hre f is the enthalpy of the gases at the reference
To mitigate the risk of a hard-start during the initial tests, a ro- temperature in kJkg−1 and ṁi is the mass flow of gas leaving
bust pyrotechnic igniter will be utilized. To avoid the necessity the igniter in kgs−1 . Using RPA the chemical composition
for students to produce the energetic pyrotechnic propellant, it and temperature of the flow exiting the igniter nozzle into the
has been decided to acquire commercially produced propellant main combustion chamber is calculated. For the igniter an
grains. In order to ensure ignition and to design for maximum initial chamber pressure of 1.5 MPa is assumed. For the igniter
reliability it is decided to set the requirement that the igniter exhaust nozzle an area ratio AAet of 1.1 is assumed. Using these
should be able to heat the complete propellant mass flow above values for the given APCP composition in RPA yields a nozzle
its auto ignition temperature. The work of Steward [28] and exhaust temperature gas temperature of 2385 K. Taking the
Younglove [34] is used to calculate the propellant heat capacity auto ignition temperature as the reference temperature and
at various temperatures after which these values are numeri- working out equation 6 for all the major species in the APCP
cally integrated to obtain the total required energy to heat the grain yields the results as shown in Table 3.
propellants. As the methane fuel will be used to regeneratively
cool the engine prior to being injected into the combustion
Table 3: AP + HTPB propellant heating power above 800 K
chamber, it is assumed that the methane will have vaporised
from 2400 K from major gas species. Pc = 1.5 MPa, O/F
once it is injected into the chamber. This assumption may At
= 5.67, Ae = 1.1
however not be valid at engine start, due to the fact that there
is no combustion in the main chamber yet and that the engine Species ∆H [kJ/mol] Molar fraction ∆H [kJ/kg]
is likely to be prechilled prior to start. For ignition it is thus H2O 75.74 0.3433 1442
assumed that the methane is still a liquid. The liquid oxygen CO2 92.99 0.1012 213
will still be liquid and needs to undergo a phase change. The HCl 54.52 0.1782 266
properties of the propellants at injection are summarized in CO 56.15 0.1780 356
Table 2. H2 52.23 0.1030 2668
In order to determine the temperature to which the propel- N2 55.59 0.0903 179
lants need to be raised at which auto-ignition occurs the work Total 0.994 5127
of Shchemelev [26] is used. Shchemelev reports that oxygen-
methane mixtures readily self ignite at temperatures above 500 Naturally not all energy will be available to heat the main

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

propellants. Some heat will be lost in the igniter itself but the burn rate or regression rate r of the APCP propellant is
also a significant amount of energy is converted to velocity a function of pressure p and can be approximated using the
as the gases exit the igniter housing and flow into the main following equation:
combustion chamber. The amount of energy converted into
velocity is however expected to quickly change as the main
combustion chamber is brought up to pressure once propellant
injection starts. It is thus very hard to peg a solid number to
the amount of energy available without performing detailed
analysis.

By dividing the total energy required by the energy deliv-

ered by the propellant, the required mass flow out of the igniter r = apn (8)
is obtained. The results are summarized in Table 4.
Table 4: Required igniter power and mass flow

Parameter Unit Value

Required ignition power W 3121̇03
APCP propellant enthalpy Jkg−1 5.1271̇06
Required mass flow kgs−1 0.0608

Based on the required mass flow and the duration of about The power function coefficient n typically has a value
1 second for which this mass flow needs to be delivered, the between 0.3 and 0.5 [29]. Cesaroni was able to provide a
Cesaroni Pro38 Vmax propellant grain was selected. Cesaroni theoretical characteristic exhaust velocity, chamber tempera-
Vmax propellant grains are readily available in the Nether- ture and regression power function coefficient for the Pro38
lands. The Vmax propellant has a high specific impulse and Vmax grain on the condition that these figures are not made
burns relatively clean due to the lack of metal additives. This public. Because limited information is available on the exact
makes the Vmax propellant suitable for the pyrotechnic igniter. propellant composition some assumptions are made in order
Key properties of this propellant grain type are listed in Table to accommodate these deficiencies. It is assumed that both the
5. chamber temperature and characteristic exhaust velocity are
Table 5: Cesaroni Pro-38 Vmax propellant grain key properties fixed at the supplied values for the duration of the burn.
as provided by Cesaroni. Source: Cesaroni [30]

Parameter Unit Value Using the described igniter model the following results
Propellant weight (sic) g 61.2 shown in Table 6 and Figures 5 and 6 were obtained. With the
Burntime s 0.69 throat diameter being the primary design variable, its value
Outer diameter mm 31 was chosen to allow for a slightly higher mass flow than re-
Outer diameter incl. liner mm 33 quired to accommodate for thermodynamic losses and a slow
Inner diameter mm 11 start-up.
Length mm 58
1.8
The igniter is modeled using ideal rocketry theory [29]. 1.6
The igniter is connected to the main combustion chamber via
1.4
a convergent-divergent nozzle. The mass flow due to combus-
tion and the mass flow out of the engine are determined as 1.2
Pressure [MPa]

functions of pressure. By setting up a mass balance and by 1.0

applying time discretization, the contained mass and hence 0.8
pressure of the engine are determined. Under the assumptions 0.6
of ideal rocketry the mass flow ṁ in kg/s through a nozzle with
0.4
a throat area At in m2 is given by the relation:
0.2
Pc At 0.0
ṁ = ∗ (7) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
c Time [s]
Where Pc is the chamber pressure in Pa and c∗ the characteris-
tic exhaust velocity of the propellant in ms . It is assumed that Figure 5: Igniter chamber pressure

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

heat transfer to the combustion chamber structure. This oc-

0.08 curs because these oscillations destroying the boundary layer
0.07 which normally exists in a stable combustion environment.
0.06 The increase in heat release often leads to structural damage
and even a complete failure of the engine.
Massflow in [kg/s]

0.05 Theoretical analysis of combustion instabilities is often

0.04 lacking in the development process of a liquid rocket engine
0.03 due to the complex nature of combustion instabilities. This
lack in knowledge often leads to destructive instabilities ap-
0.02 pearing late in the engine development stage. To prevent this,
0.01 a one-dimensional high frequency combustion stability model
0.00
will be developed. This model will be able to give predictions
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 about the stability of the given engine design and provide the
Time [s]
designer with suggestions as to which parameters will provide
better stability.
Figure 6: Igniter nozzle mass flow
For the construction of this model, several stability anal-
Table 6: Igniter model simulation results ysis methods which are used in the past will be analyzed for
their applicability. The first method is the time lag model
Parameter Unit Value developed by Crocco [7]. The time lag model assumes that
Maximum pressure MPa 1.646 there is a finite time lag between when the propellants are
Throat diameter mm 9 injected and when they are combusted. The acoustic model
Maximum massflow kg/s 0.0717 describes the propagation of acoustic pressure waves in a given
Average massflow kg/s 0.0652 chamber geometry and the acoustic mode frequencies of the
Burntime s 0.959 chamber. This model was first applied to describe combus-
tion instabilities by Lord Rayleigh [22] when he describes the
The use of ideal rocket theory neglects pressure losses fundamental mechanisms behind the driving of an instability.
occurring due to boundary layers, chemical kinetics and two Implementing empirical relations which describe the combus-
phase flows. Furthermore it is difficult to predict the exact start- tion response of individual combustion processes will allow
up transients. These facts, added to the uncertainty of the exact for a more in-depth analysis of the driving mechanisms behind
chemical composition of the Pro38 Vmax propellant, make the an instability. However, The applicability of these empirical
validity of the predictions doubtful. As such, it was chosen to relations is limited.
design the igniter to provide sufficient power to ignite the full The one dimensional model will be validated by comparing
propellant flow. Despite this safety factor, a number of tests the results to existing one dimensional programs like ROC-
are currently planned for the igniter to validate that it delivers CID [20] and GIM [21]. A further increase in fidelity will be
the required massflow before it will be used to ignite an engine. reached when the individual parts of the model are compared
to test data. Parameters like the injection droplet size and
In addition a detailed analysis of the effects of startup on distribution, propellant evaporation rate and propellant mixing
the igniter flow are required. While simulations predict that rates can be confirmed by the execution of cold flow and hot
the igniter on its own will only reach an operating pressure of fire tests.
1.646 MPa, the main chamber pressure will rise to its designed
operating point around 4 MPa once ignition is achieved. While
V.II Injector and Thrust chamber Design
the low power function coefficient n for the burning rate of the
APCP should prevent any adverse effects from an increased The coaxial swirl injector has been selected as preferred ele-
igniter chamber pressure the exact influence of an elevated ment due to its high efficiency for liquid-gas configurations,
back pressure on the igniter is to be determined. as well as liquid-liquid injection configuration. An initial de-
sign for the injector elements, in the liquid oxygen-gaseous
methane case, has been made using the methodology proposed
V PROPOSED RESEARCH TOPICS
by Bazarov [2]. However, many design parameters, includ-
V.I Combustion Stability Modeling ing propellant velocity and swirl ratio, intra element mixing
length and inter element spacing are not properly addressed
Combustion instabilities are an important engine phenomenon in the initial design. To evaluate these design parameters, a
to be avoided in the development program of any liquid rocket Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes model will be developed.
engine. The pressure and heat release oscillations associated Currently DARE has a RANS code for numerical combus-
with combustion instabilities lead to a significant increase in tion implemented in ANSYS CFX. This code however has

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 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

numerous shortcomings. In its current state, the code uses was 0.68m diameter and 2m high. Tests were conducted with
single step chemistry, yielding excessively high temperature liquid hydrogen as propellant and gaseous hydrogen as pressur-
predictions. Furthermore it assumes gaseous injection of both ant. Their results indicated that a straight tube injector resulted
propellants and no real-gas effects are simulated. As such it in the least amount of pressurant required. They attributed this
is advised to upgrade this model by implementing a real gas to (1) the evaporation of propellant when it came in contact
equation of state, multi-step chemistry and to include liquid with the pressurant gas and (2) the radial temperature profile
injection and vaporization model. The improved numerical created by this injector. The temperature gradient was such
combustion model should be utilized to optimize the injector that the gas was warm at the tank centreline and cold near the
geometry. Parameters such as oxidizer post recess, injection walls. The cold gas temperatures at the wall resulted in low
velocity and injection velocity ratio should be optimized for heat transfer from gas to the wall, and so to lower amounts
the injector elements. It is planned to perform cold flow tests of pressurant required. This is all in stark contrast with the
on the injector using liquid nitrogen as analogue for the liquid common usage of the radial injector and the minimization of
oxygen and gaseous nitrogen as analog for the methane. These radial temperature gradients. Possibly the heat loss to the tank
tests should be performed to validate that the injector has a walls is of more importance with small tanks due to a higher
sufficient pressure drop. Furthermore these tests shall be used area to volume ratio when compared to large, orbital-launcher
to validate the liquid spray parameters, such as Sauter mean tanks.
diameter, utilized in the RANS model. Huzel [18] also mentions the usage of a so called Ranque-
Hilsch-vortex-tube as pressurant injector. A vortex tube is
V.III Tank Pressurization Design a simple and light mechanical construction without moving
parts that splits an incoming gas flow into a cold and a warm
For the design of the liquid propulsion system a choice has gas stream [16]. Huzel suggests to use this system to protect
been made to focus on pressure driven expulsion of the propel- cold cryogenic tank structural members from the incoming
lant from the tanks. This option was selected because at the hot pressurant gas. However, the system is considered for this
scale of the engine it does not yet lead to insurmountable in- project instead to introduce a large thermal gradient within the
creases in tank mass, while the development of a pump system ullage gas, with the goal to minimize the heat transfer from
would need to start from scratch within DARE. the gas to the wall, as is proposed by DeWitt [13].
To pressurize the tank and to expel the propellant from it, Considering all this, it is decided that a research project is
a pressurant gas needs to be introduced into the tank. There conducted to investigate the pressurized discharge of propel-
are various ways to do this, but the most common method is lant from a cryogenic propulsion tank by means of a pressurant
the usage of a pressurization gas such as helium stored under gas. The investigation will be done by means of numerical
high pressure in an on-board tank [29]. When looking at the modeling of the processes within the tank, which will be vali-
system under consideration the propellant tanks would operate dated by cold-flow tests conducted with the system. The effect
at pressures around 5MPa or possibly even higher. Preliminary of different injector types will be looked at, with special focus
calculations show that this means that the pressurant tank is on the usage of a vortex tube to maximize radial temperature
comparable in size to a propellant tank. A good knowledge gradient in an effort to minimize heat losses to the tank wall.
on the amount of pressurant required and a possible mass op-
timization of it is therefor key to reducing the empty mass of
V.IV Torch Igniter Development
the engine system.
The pressurant gas is sprayed into the propellant tank via a While pyrotechnic igniters are a well proven method to ignite
pressurant diffuser. As is already discussed by Huzel [18], the liquid rocket engines they suffer from some drawbacks. Py-
most common shape of the injector is that of a radial diffuser, rotechnic igniters require stringent safety requirements and
which injects pressurant in such a way that disturbance of the need to be serviced for each engine firing [18, p. 121]. A spark-
propellant surface by the incoming gas is minimized. The idea torch igniter consumes a small amount of the main propellant
is that this minimizes heat transfer from the gas to the propel- in a separate combustion chamber before introducing the hot
lant and that it as such minimizes the amount of pressurant combustion products into the main thrust chamber. Because
required. The radial injector produces a steady inflow of gas no solid propellant is used the stringent safety requirements
with a large vertical temperature gradient in the ullage gas, but can be dropped. In addition a spark-torch igniter can provide
negligible temperature gradient in the radial direction [8]. a large number of ignitions easing engine testing [18, p. 121].
In a NASA technical note from DeWitt, Stochl and John-
son on the effectiveness of different pressurant injectors from In order to come to an efficient spark-torch design detailed
1966 [13] the effect of using different pressurant injectors is modeling of the ignition process is required. As already noted
discussed and backed up with experiments. This paper is of in Section V.II the current DARE RANS code is overestimat-
particular interest for this project as involves a tank of similar ing temperature due to simplified chemistry. Work at DLR
scale as what can be expected for DARE. The tank they used suggests that similar simplified chemistry models also impart

SP2016-3124644 10
 Space Propulsion Conference, Rome, Italy. Copyright 2016
c by 3AF. All rights reserved.

accuracy when modeling ignition [33]. ent. To optimize the pressurant consumption of the cryogenic
run tanks, detailed theoretical and experimental investigations
NASA reported good results in employing the National using a Hilsch tube will be performed. Finally a torch igniter,
Combustion Code (NCC) for designing a LOX/Methane torch using gaseous oxygen and gaseous methane will be developed
igniter [3]. Airbus demonstrated good results in modeling to mitigate the risks and cost involved with solid propellants.
the ignition of LOX/CH4 burning gas generator using their Once developed, this torch igniter will be reusable, reducing
Rocflam II code [27]. Both works provide hints at what is the time and costs of tests, and making the eventual engine
required to develop a well performing RANS for modeling also more suitable for re-usability.
ignition. The main differences with DARE’s code are the
inclusion of more elaborate chemistry models and droplet ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
tracking.
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Advanced
It is therefore decided to investigate the possibility of im- Lightweight Engineering in Delft for their assistance in the
plementing more elaborate chemistry models and droplet track- design of the composite tank concept. Furthermore the as-
ing models specifically for modeling unsteady processes such sistance of Linde Engineering with the arc welding of the
as ignition. The resulting code shall have to be verified against aluminum test tank is acknowledged. INSULCON provided
previously verified code such as the NCC or Rocflam or against aerogel foam insulator for this tank. Finally the authors would
experimental data before it can be used to come a final torch like to thank Delft University of Technology for providing
igniter design. DARE with workshop space and assistance with the liquid
nitrogen tank test.

VI CONCLUSIONS
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