Study on Combustion Characteristics of Unielement Thrust Chambers with Various Injectors

Experimental study on combustion characteristics of double swirl coaxial injectors has been conducted for the assessment of critical injector design parameters. A reusable, unielement thrust chamber has been fabricated with a water-cooled copper nozzle. Two principle design parameters, a swirl angle and a recess length, have been investigated through hot firing tests for the understanding of their effects on high pressure combustion. Clearly, both parameters considerably affect the combustion efficiency, dynamics and hydraulic characteristics of an injector. Internal mixing of propellants in a recess region increases combustion efficiency along with the increase of a pressure drop required for flowing the same amount of mass flow rates. It is concluded that pressure buildup due to flame can be released by the increase of LOx flow axial momentum or the reduction of a recess length. Dynamic pressure measurements of the thrust chamber show varied dynamic behaviors depending on injector configurations.