• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2020

In this study, a hot-firing test of a lab-scale gel rocket motor using liquid kerosene and gelled kerosene as fuel was performed in order to analyze the discrepancy of the static and dynamic pressure between the two fuels. The static pressure, characteristic velocity, and characteristic velocity efficiency of the liquid kerosene and gelled kerosene did not show any significant difference. However, in the case of dynamic pressure characteristics, the pressure oscillation amplitude in a specific high frequency region of the gelled kerosene demonstrated a significantly higher amplitude than liquid kerosene case. This is considered to be the effect of an intrinsic combustion mechanism of the gel propellant, and it can be postulated that this may act as a dominant factor influencing the high frequency combustion instability of the gel rocket motor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.469-473
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• 2017

In this study, the rheological characteristics of kerosene based gel propellants were investigated. For the gelling agent, Thixatrol$^{(R)}$ has been used with 100 nm nano-sized aluminium particle addition. Three gellant contents of 2.5 wt%, 5 wt% and 7.5 wt% kerosene gels were first investigated where aluminium particles contents of 10 wt% and 20 wt% were added to 7.5 wt% gellant case. The viscosities of each sample measured by rotational rheometer show that the viscosity augments as gellant or aluminium content increases while the 20 wt% aluminum content resulted in failure of measurement due to the agglomerations of aluminum particles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.23-31
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• 2012

Present work deals three families of $SiO_2$ gelling agents which have been used to produce gel fuel based on Kerosene. Jet A-1 is chosen as fuel where power-law rheological model is used to confirm whether or not the gelification is achieved depending on the %wt of gellant. It was confirmed that the produced jelly-like substance have shear-thinning effect, and that its apparent viscosity increases as $SiO_2$ concentration increases. Compared to other gellants, gel with Aerosil(R) R972 fits most to the power-law model, while gels with Silica 230 and Silica 530 deviate from the power-law model. The rheological characteristics behaved differently depending on the mixing method(vortex mixing and manual mixing) when gellant concentration is increased.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.73-79
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• 2021

This study was carried out to analyze the properties of the gel propellant and spray characteristics according to the addition of fine particles. The multi-hole diameter was 0.4 mm to induce a high shear rate, and a kerosene gel propellant was prepared using 5 wt% of the Thixatrol ST and SUS304 of 100 nm. The experiment was conducted by fixing the supply pressure in the axial direction to 0.7 MPa and adjusting the supply pressure in the radial direction from 0.7 MPa to 2.1 MPa. Due to the addition of fine particles, pressure vibration during spraying, a small TMR(Total Momentum Ratio) of up to 0.19, and a phenomenon that the spraying angle rapidly increased to more than 70 degrees occurred.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.337-340
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• 2011

This study investigates the rheological characteristics of $SiO_2$-Kerosene gel propellants with Aerosil(R) R972, Silica 230, Silica 530. Power-law rheological model is used to confirm whether or not gelification is achieved. It was found that the produced gel have shear-thinning effect, and that the viscosity of the gel propellants increases with increasing $SiO_2$ concentration. Among gellants used in this study, gel propellant with Aerosil(R) R972 fits most to the power law model as the shear rate increases. However, gels produced with Silica 230 and Silica 530 gellant deviate from the power law model when the shear rate regime is below 100 [1/s].