• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.54-61
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• 2014

In this study, a plume exhausted from rocket nozzle is investigated by using an unstructured 2-dimensional axisymmetirc DSMC code at various altitude. The small back-pressure to total-pressure ratio($P_b/P_o$) and large $P_b/P_o$ represent low and high altitude condition, respectively. At low altitude, the plume shows a typical complicated structure (e.g. Mach disk) of underexpanded jet while the high altitude plume experiences plain expansion. The various features of exhaust plume is discussed including density, translational/rotational temperature, Mach number and Knudsen number. The results shows that even at 20 km altitude where the freestream Knudsen number is small as $1.5{\times}10^{-5}$, the transitional and rarefied flow regimes can occur locally within the plume. It confirms the necessity of DSMC computation at low altitude.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.105-110
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• 2010

Supersonic ejectors are simple mechanical components, which generally perform mixing and recompression of two fluid streams. Ejectors have found many applications in engineering. In aerospace engineering, they are used for high altitude testing (HAT) of a propulsion system by reducing the pressure of a test chamber. It is composed of three major sections: a vacuum test chamber, a propulsive nozzle, and a supersonic exhaust diffuser (SED). This paper aims at the improvement in HAT facility by focusing attention on the vertical firing rocket test stand with shock generators. Shock generators are mounted inside the SED for improving the pressure recovery. The results clearly showed that the performance of the ejector-diffuser system was improved with the addition of shock generators. The improvement comes in the form of reduction of the starting pressure ratio and the vertical height of test stand. It is also shown that shock generators are useful in reducing the total pressure loss in the SED.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.81-84
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• 2010

In this study, a coaxial swirl injector using hydrogen peroxide and kerosene was designed and combustion performance tests were performed to evaluate combustion characteristic according to mixture ratio. Spray characteristic of the injector was verified by cold flow test and combustion performances according to mixture ratio were evaluated by the characteristic exhaust velocity. Test results showed that the combustion efficiency at the design condition was about 95% and the pressure fluctuation was very small.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.67-74
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• 1999

Problems created by supersonic jet impinging on solid objects or ground arise in a variety of situations. For example multi-stage rocket separation, deep-space docking, V/STOL aircraft, jet-engine exhaust, gas-turbine blade, terrestrial rocket launch, and so on. These impinging jet flows generally contain a complex structures. (mixed subsonic and supersonic regions, interacting shocks and expansion waves, regions of turbulent shear layer) This paper describes experimental works on the phenomena (surface pressure distribution, flow visualization) when underexpanded supersonic jets impinge on the perpendicular, inclined plate using a supersonic cold-(low system. The used supersonic nozzle is convergent-divergent type, exit Mach number 2, The maximum on the plate when it was inclined was much larger than perpendicular plate, owing to high pressure recoveries through multiple shocks. Surface pressure distribution as to underexpanded ratio showed similar patterns together.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.31-34
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• 2007

Performance tests of supersonic exhaust diffuser were conducted by using hot combustion gas for simulating high-altitude environment. The test rig consists of a combustion chamber, a vacuum chamber, water cooling ring and diffuser. Before combustion experiments, the preliminary leak tests were carried out on the liquid rocket engine and diffuser by using high pressure nitrogen(30barg) and a vacuum pump. The leak test results showed that there was no leaks at high pressure and vacuum pressure conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 2016

An experimental study has been conducted to verify the startup characteristic of a Center Body Diffuser (CBD) for simulating a low pressure environment when at high altitudes. Vacuum chamber pressure and startup characteristics of the CBD were investigated according to various geometries of the center body structure by a cold gas flow test. The test results show that the startup pressure is lowest when the center body contraction angle is approximately $15^{\circ}$. The startup characteristic of the CBDs significantly improves when the diffuser inlet length ($L_d/D_d$) is decreasing and the divergence length ($L_s$) is increasing. Additionally, it is possible to simulate various high altitude, low pressure conditions for various rocket engines that have different nozzle expansion ratios by adjusting the center body's position inside the diffuser.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.275-283
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• 2013

An injector that uses methane gas ($CH_4$) and liquid oxygen ($LO_x$) as propellants was designed to verify the combustion characteristics of an engine that uses methane, which is one of the next-generation propellants. A swirl/shear coaxial-type injector was used, and flow analysis was performed using Fluent to determine the main design parameters of the injector. A hydraulic test was performed to understand the atomization and spray pattern characteristics of the injector. Next, a combustion test was performed at the design point to understand the ignition and combustion stability. Additional combustion tests were performed according to the O/F ratio to investigate the combustion characteristics and stabilities using the characteristic exhaust velocity ($C^*$) and fluctuation of the chamber pressure. The experimental results showed that the combustion efficiency was greater than 90%, and the pressure fluctuation was lower than 2% under all conditions.