• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.93-96
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• 2011

A genetic algorithm (GA) has been employed to optimize the major design variables of the liquid rocket engine. Mass flow rate to the main thrust chamber, mass flow rate to the gas generator and chamber pressure have been selected as design variables. The target engine is the open gas generator cycle using the LO2/RP-1 propellant. The objective function of design optimization is to maximize the specific impulse with condition of energy balance between the pump and the turbine. The properties of the combustion chamber have been obtained from CEA2. Pump & turbine efficiencies and properties of the gas generator have been modeled mathematically from reference data. The result shows 3~4% errors for the specific impulse and 2~6% errors for the pump power of the gas generator cycle compared to references.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.675-685
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• 2016

A research area on liquid rocket engine has been suggested. Downsizing through combustion pressure rise and low price are major issues to gas generator cycle engines. A very high pressure turbopump and material against oxidizer rich environment may be necessary technologies for staged combustion cycle engines. Integrated analysis saving computing time is the trend of rocket engine systems analysis area. Other important research topics are the methane engine for reusable booster to reduce the cost, 3D printing and materials for high temperature or oxidizer rich environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.56-60
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• 2006

It is essential to predict thermodynamic properties of combustion gas with respect to a propellant mixture ratio for the development of a gas generator for a liquid rocket engine. The present study shows the temperature measurement of exit combustion gas as a function of a mixture ratio through the series of combustion tests of a fuel-rich gas generator with liquid oxygen and Jet A-1. The measurements of dynamic and static pressures, and combustion gas temperatures allowed the estimation of thermodynamic properties like a specific heat ratio, a gas constant, and a constant pressure specific heat of the combustion gas. The comparison of the experimental results with predictions made by interpolation parameters obtained from the modification of the chemical equilibrium code indicates that the interpolation method calibrated using the temperature measurements can be utilized as an effective tool for the initial design of a fuel-rich gas generator.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.118-122
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• 2006

For the development of a gas generator of a liquid rocket engine, the prediction of thermodynamic properties of combustion gas with respect to a propellant mixture ratio becomes critical. The present study focuses on the temperature measurement of exit combustion gas as a function of a mixture ratio through combustion tests of a fuel-rich gas generator propelled by Lox/Jet A-1. The measurement of combustion dynamic and static pressures allowed indirect estimation of thermodynamic properties like specific heat ratio, gas constant, and constant pressure specific heat. Comparing the results with empirical prediction through an interpolation reveals that the interpolation method calibrated using temperature results can be utilized as an effective tool for the design of a fuel-rich gas generator.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 2010

A system design has been conducted of the liquid rocket engine for Korean launch vehicle (KSLV-II, Korea Space Launch Vehicle II). The present turbopump-fed liquid rocket engine of vacuum thrust 76 ton and vacuum specific impulse 297 sec adopts gas generator cycle. The combustion pressure of the regeneratively cooled combustor is 60 bar. The propellant is LOx/kerosene. The engine is started by pyrostarter and the combustor is ignited by TEA (TriEthylAluminium). The engine system performance and the subsystems performance requirements are given through energy balance analysis. The combustion pressure, specific impulse and the engine mass are analyzed to be reasonable comparing with the published data. The startup analysis method which will be used in the future has been validated against the turbopump-gas generator coupled test. The tuning method for performance variation of the engine which is not actively controled has been prepared by mode analysis and performance deviation analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.60-71
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• 2007

The startup characteristic of liquid propellant rocket engine should be focused on the stable ignition of combustion chamber and gas generator. Also, to lessen the propellants consumption during this period which doesn't contribute to the flight thrust, the engine has to be transferred to the nominal mode quickly. Because of the risk of test, it is impossible to develop all the startup cyclogram or the specifications of engine by test, so the precedent numerical approach is quite necessary. In this study we developed a mathematical model for the startup phenomena in a liquid rocket engine driven by gas generator-turbopump system based on the commercial 1-D flow system analysis program, Flowmaster. Using this program we proposed a methodology to obtain the specifications of turbine starter and the opening time of shutoff valves for the stable startup of the engine. To verify this methodology we qualitatively compared the analysis results to the typical startup curve of the published engine, then found it is quite well matched.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2009

An analysis has been performed on the specific impulse for a liquid rocket engine of gas generator cycle. The present analysis method has been validated through the comparison of the optimal specific impulse for the 300t thrust conceptual engine against the published data. The engine specific impulse can be increased by applying film coolant decreasing the fuel pump head for regenerative cooling despite the decrease of specific impulse of the combustion chamber when the film coolant participates combustion more than the critical amount. The improved condition shows that higher combustion chamber pressure is achieved with less fuel pump head rise by additional film cooling.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.82-97
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• 2009

In this study, a linearlized model of liquid rocket engine specifically for the gasgenerator cycle one was developed to serve as a basic control model. A commercial software Simulink was used for the modeling. Using this tool we studied the throttling characteristic of engine around its nominal mode. To obtain the effect of the throttle valve design on the engine's control characteristic, we included mathematical model of the control valve with driving motor and the pressure stabilizer which installed on the gas-generator fed line to sustain the mixture ratio of the gas-generator.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.181-188
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• 2016

It is known that reliability of liquid rocket engines depends on the design thrust, propellant, engine cycle, and hot firing test time. Previously, a method was developed for estimating reliability of a new engine by adjusting the design thrust and hot firing test time of reference engines where reference engines have the same propellant and engine cycle with the new engine. In this paper, we provide a procedure to predict the engine reliability when the new engine and the reference engine have different propellant and engine cycles. The proposed method is illustrated to estimate the engine reliability of the first stage of Korea Space Launch Vehicle II.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.200-206
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• 2013

A performance sensitivity of liquid rocket engine to propellant density or supply pressure change was studied. The analysis program was verified to have 1% error comparing with the measured data of a turbopump-gas generator system. The engine combustion pressure decreases as fuel supply pressure increases due to decreased mixture ratio which reduces the turbine power. The engine combustion pressure increases as fuel density increases because the total propellant flow rate is increased substantially even though mixture ratio is slightly decreased. The engine combustion pressure increases when the oxidizer density or supply pressure increases.