LIQUID PROPELLANT

ROCKET COMBUSTION
CHAMBER
Liquid propellant rocket combustion
chamber:
The combustion chamber is that
part of a thrust chamber where the
combustion or burning of the propellant
takes place.
The combustion temperature is
much higher than the melting points of most
chamber wall materials.
Therefore it is necessary either to
cool these walls or to stop rocket operation
before the critical wall areas become too
high, the thrust chamber will fail.
Combustion of liquid propellants:
The combustion of liquid propellants is
very efficient in well designed thrust
chambers, precombustion chamber, or gas
generators.
Efficiencies of 95% to 99.5% are typical
compared to turbojets or furnaces, which can
range from 50 to 97%.
This is due to very high reaction rate at
the high combustion temperatures and the
thrust mixing of fuel and oxidizer reaction
species by means of good injection
distribution and gas turbulence.
COMBUSTION CHAMBER ZONES
1.Injection/Atomization zone
2.Rapid combustion zone
3.Stream-tube combustion zone
4.Transonic-flow zone
5.Supersonic expansion zone

Injection/atomization zone
In this zone the liquids are atomized
into a large number of small droplets.
heat is transformed to the droplets
by radiation from the very hot rapid
combustion zone and by convection from
moderately hot gases in the first zone.
it is heterogenous, it contains liquid
and vapourized propellant as well as some
burning hot gases.

chemical reactions occur in this zone,
but the rate of heat generation is relatively
low, in part because the liquids and gases
are still relatively low, in part because the
liquid and gases are still relatively cold.
In part because vapourization near
the droplets fuel rich and fuel lean regions
which do not burn as quickly.
some hot gases in combustion zone
are re-circulated back from the rapid
combustion zone and they can create local
gas velocities that flow across the injector
phase.
Stream tube combustion zone:
In this oxidation reactions continue, but at
a lower rate, and some additional heat is
released.
However chemical reactions continue
because the mixture tends to be driven
towards an equilibrium composition.
Streamlines are formed and there is
relatively little turbulent mixing across
streamline boundaries.
The residence time in this zone is very
short compared to the residence time in the
other two zones.
The residence time of the propellant
material in the combustion chamber is very
short, usually less than 100 milliseconds.
Combustion in a liquid rocket engine is
very dynamic with the volumetric heat
release being approximately 370 MJ/m
3
-sec,
which is much higher than in turbojets.
DESIGN CONSIDERATION OF
COMBUSTION CHAMBER
1.Combustion chamber shape
2.Combustion chamber volume
3.Chamber wall load and stresses
Combustion chamber shape:
A long chamber with small cross section
entails high nonisentropic pressure losses.
Long chamber also dictate a longer thrust
chamber envelope and impose space
limitations on the injector design to
accommodate the desired number of injection
elements.
With short chamber a large cross section,
the propellant atomization and vaporization
zone occupies a relatively large portion of the
chamber volume, while mixing and
combustion zone becomes too short for
efficient combustion.
Other factors such as heat transfer,
combustion stability, weight also be considered
in determining the final combustion chamber
configuration.
Three geometrical shapes that have been
used in combustion chamber design.
There are spherical, near spherical,
cylindrical chamber.
While spherical and near spherical chambers
were used in early European designs, the
cylindrical chamber has been employed most
frequently in the united states, compared to a
cylindrical chamber of same volume, a spherical
or near spherical chamber offers the
advantages of less cooling surfaces,and weight.
A spherical has the best surfaces to
volume ratio of all the geometric choices and
for the same material strength and chamber
pressure.
The minimum wall thickness required for
pressure load is about half that of a cylinder.
Spherical chamber gives the least internal
surfaces area and mass per unit chamber
volume.
However , the spherical chamber is more
difficult manufacture and has provided poorer
performance of other respects.
Today we prefer a cylindrical chamber(or
slightly tapered cone frustrum)with a flat
injector and a converging-diverging nozzle.
Typical combustion chamber characteristics
length for various propellant combinations.
S.no Propellant combination Combustion chamber
(inch)
1. Chlorine triflouride/hydrazine base fuel 20-35
2. Liquid flourine/hydrazine 24-38
3. Hydrogen peroxide/RP-I 60-70
4. Liquid flouring/liquid hydrogen 25-30
5. Nitric acid/hydrazine base fuel 30-35
6. Liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen 30-40
7. Liquid oxygen/RP-1 40-50
2.Combustion chamber volume:
The chamber volume is defined as the
volume upto the nozzle throat section and it
includes the cylindrical chamber and the
converging cone frustrum of the nozzle.
Neglecting the effect of corner radii, the
chamber volume v
c
is
v
c =
A
1
L + A
1
L
C
(1+
L cylindrical length
A
1
/A
t
= chamber contraction ratio
L
C
Length of conical frustrum


The theorically required combustion
chamber volume is a function of the mass
flow rate of the propellants, the average
density of the combustion products and the
stay time needed for efficient combustion.
V
C
= mVt
s
m propellant mass flow rate
V
C
= Average specific volume
t
s
propellant stay time

Stay time (t
s
):
It is the average valve of the time spent
by each molecule or atom within the
chamber.
stay times have the values of .001 to
.040 sec for different types of thrust
chambers and propellant.
Characteristics chamber length (L
C
or L
*
):
The characteristics chamber length is
defined as the length that a chamber of the
same volume would have if it were a
straight tube and had no converging nozzle
section.

L
*
= V
C
/A
t

V
C
chamber volume
A
t
nozzle throat area
Typical values for L
*
are between 0.8 and 3
meters (i.e. 2.6 to 10ft) for several
bipropellants and higher for some
monopropellants.
The volume and shape are selected after
evaluating the following parameters:
1. The volume has to be large enough for
adequate mixing, evaporation and complete
combustion of propellants, chamber volumes
vary for different propellants with the time
delay necessary to vaporize and activate the
propellants and with the speed of reaction of
the propellant combination.
When the chamber volume is too small,
combustion is incomplete and the
performance is poor.
With higher chamber pressures or with
highly reactive propellants, and with
injectors that give improved mixing, a
smaller chamber volume is usually
permissible.
2. The chamber diameter and volume can
influence the cooling requirements. If the
chamber volume and the chamber diameter
are large , the heat transfer rates to the
walls willbe reduced, the area exposed to
heat will be large, and the walls are
somewhat thicker.

3.All inert components should have minimum
mass. The thrust chamber mass is a function
of the chamber dimensions, chamber pressure
and nozzle area ratio and the method of cooling.
4.Manufacturing consideration favor simple
chamber geometry, such as a cylindrical with a
double cone bow-tie shaped nozzle, low cost
materials and simpler fabrication processes.
5.In some applications the length of the chamber
and the nozzle relate directly to the overall
length of the vehicle.
A large diameter but short chamber can allow
a somewhat shorter vehicle with lower structural
inert vehicle mass.
6.The gas pressure drop for accelerating the
combustion products within the chamber should
be minimum; any pressure reduction at the
nozzle inlet reduces the exhaust velocity and the
performance of the vehicle.
These losses become appreciable when the
chamber area loss than three times the throat
area.
7.For the same thrust combustion volume and the
nozzle throat area become smaller as the
operating chamber pressure is increased.
This means that the chamber length and the
nozzle length also decrease with increasing
chamber pressure, the performance will go up
with chamber pressure.

3.Chamber Walls Loads And Stresses:
The analysis of loads and stresses is
performed on all propulsion components
during their engineering design.
Its purpose is to assure the propulsion
designed and the flight vehicle user that,
The components are strong enough to
carry all the loads, so that they can fulfill their
intended functions
1. Potential failures have been identified
together with the possible remedies or
redesigns.

2. Their masses have been reduced to a practical
minimum.
In this section we concentrate on the loads and
stresses in the walls of thrust chambers, where
high heat fluxes and large thermal stresses
complicate the stress analysis.
Some of the information on safety factors and
stress analysis apply also to all propulsion
system, including solid propellant motors and
electric propulsion.
The safety factors are very small in rocket
propulsion when compared to commercial
machining, where these factors can be 2-6 times
larger.
several load conditions are considered for each
rocket component, they are
a. Maximum expected working load is the
largest likely operating load under all likely
operating conditions or transients.
b. The design limit load is typically 1.20 times
the maximum expected load to provide a
margin.
c. The damaging load can be based on the
yield load or the ultimate load of the
endurance limit load, whichever gives the
lowest value.
The yield load causes a permanent set or
deformation, and is typically set as 1.10
times the design limit load.

d. The proof test load is applied to engines their
components during development and
manufacturing inspection.
It is often equal to the design limit load, provide
this load condition can be stimulated in a
laboratory.
The walls of all the thrust chambers are
subjected to rapid and axial loads from the
chamber pressures, flight accelerations(axial
and transverse), vibrations and thermal
stresses.
They also have withstand a momentary
ignition pressure surge or shock, often due to
excessive propellant accumulation in the
chamber.
Thus surge can exceed the nominal chamber
pressure.
In addition the chamber walls have to transmit
thrust loads as well as forces and in some
applications also moments, imposed by thrust
vector control devices.
walls also have to survive a thermal shock
namely the initial thermal stresses at rapid
starting.
When walls are cold or at ambient temperature
they experience higher gas heating rates than after
the walls have been heated.
These loads are different for almost every
design and unit has to be considered individually in
determining the wall strengths.


COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
It is defined in terms of the nature of
pressure fluctuations in the combustion
chamber.
combustion chamber pressure
fluctuations present during normal, stable
operation of a rocket engine system.
there are usually quite random
showing frequently spectra that are
essentially continious in nature,with few, if an
recongnizable peaks.

Combustion instabilities cause
1.Pressure peaks which increases the
burning rate and results in enormous pressure
build up.
2. increased heat transfer rates and
higher wall temperatures.
3. vibration of the structure and the
sensitive electronic instruments and the pay
load.
4. uncomfortable to the passengers
inside.
If the process of rocket combustion is
not controlled,
then combustion instabilities can occur
which can vary quickly cause excessive heat
transfer.
the aim is to prevent occurrence of this
instability and to maintain reliable operation.

Types of combustion instabilities
s.no type Word
description
Frequenc
y range
Cause relationship
1 Low frequency Chugging
(feed system
instability)
10-400 Linked with pressure
interactions between
propellant feed system.
If not the entire vehicle
and combustion
chamber
2 Intermediate
frequency
Acoustic or
buzzing
400-1000 Linked with mechanical
vibrations of propusion
structure, injector
manifold flow eddies,
fuel/oxidizer ratio
fluctuations and
propellant feed system
resonances
3 High
frequency
Screaming/
screeching/
squealing
Above
1000
Linked with combustion
process forces
CHUGGING
Chugging a low frequency instability
arise from an interaction between the
propellant feed system and the combustion
chamber of the rocket motor.
Propellant flow rate
disturbance(50Hz) gives rise to low frequency
longitudinal combustion instability, producing a
longitudina motion of vibration in the vehicle.
This vehicle instability is called pogo
instability.eg. Space launch vehicle/ballistic
missiles

BUZZING
The inter-mediate type of instability which
represents pressure perturbations greaterthan 5%
Of the mean combustion chamber.
It has been associated in resonances of
various parts of the feed system and mounting
structure and vortex formation in the gas flowing
around corners.
Most have low amplitude.
It is often more noisy annoying than
damaging, although the occurrence of buzzing
may initiate high frequency instabilities.(medium
size engine)
SCREECHING
Screeching or screaming has frequency
and is most persisting and most common in
the development of new engines.
it involves high frequency oscillations,
this is due to the interaction between acoustics
of the chamber and the combustion process.
high frequency instability occurs in two
modes, longitudinal and transverse.
trigerring the high frequency instability
is a rocket combustion phenomenon called
popping.