Book Description

Liquid propelled propulsion systems, which range from rocket systems to hypersonic scramjet and ramjet engines, require active cooling in order to prevent additional payload requirements. In these systems, the liquid fuel is used as a coolant and is delivered through micro-channels that surround the combustion chambers, nozzles, as well as the exterior surfaces in order to extract heat from these affected areas. During this process, heat exchange occurs through phase change, sensible heat extraction, and endothermic reactions experienced by the liquid fuel. Previous research has demonstrated the significant modifications in fuel composition and changes to the fuel's physical properties that can result from these endothermic reactions. As a next step, we are experimentally investigating the effect that endothermic reactions have on fundamental flame behavior for real hydrocarbon fuels that are used as rocket and jet propellants. To achieve this goal, we have developed a counter-flow flame burner to measure extinction limits of the thermally stressed fuels. The counter-flow flame system is to be coupled with a high pressure reactor, capable of subjecting the fuel to 170 atm and 873 K, effectively simulating the extreme environment that cause the liquid fuel to experience endothermic reactions. The fundamental flame properties of the reacted fuels will be compared to those of unreacted fuels, allowing us to determine the role of endothermic reactions on the combustion behavior of current hydrocarbon jet and rocket propellants. To quantify the change in transport properties and chemical kinetics of the reacting mixture, simultaneous numerical simulations of the reactor portion of the experiment coupled with a counterflow flame simulation are performed using n-heptane and n-dodecane.