• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.261-264
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• 2008

This study experimentally examines combustion characteristics of a hybrid rocket in which solid paraffin is used as a fuel, while oxidizer is pure oxygen. Especially, the experiment investigates the effects of chamber pressure and configuration of fuel grain. The pressure inside the combustion chamber is varied by changing a flow rate of oxidizer. The regression rate is observed to increase as the chamber pressure does. There also exists the effects of shape of fuel grain on thrust. Characteristic of paraffin hybrid rocket changes with shape of fuel grain. When there is a room near the injector, thrust increases. On the other hand, the room near the nozzle does not contribute to thrust increasement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2007

An experimental investigation was conducted to clarify the combustion characteristics of Polyethylene-GOX(PE-GOX) hybrid motor using a single-port fuel grain configuration. Data from the experiments were analyzed to evaluate the length-averaged regression rate of PE-GOX propellants. Based on the existing theories, the empirical regression rate formulas provided from Marxman[3,4] and Altman[14] showed good concordance with the PE-GOX experiments. The accuracy of the regression rate was then evaluated and compared with the measured one. As a result, Marxman's model was somewhat more precise than Altman's model in these experiments. Moreover, the consideration of the empirical regression rate showed that O/F ratio has minor variation due to the quasi constant inflow of the fuel during motor firing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.11-19
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• 2018

Viscosity measurements were conducted to investigate the rheological characteristics of aluminized paraffin wax fuel. To identify the effect of size and contents of the aluminum particles on the variation of viscosity, samples of nano- and micro- sized aluminum particles with an average particle size of 100 nm and $8{\mu}m$ were prepared and measured using a rheometer. The observed viscosity increment patterns of the nano- and micro-sized particles were vey different, and particularly above 10 wt%, where a relatively low overall regression rate is expected for nano- content fuel. It is possible that this phenomenon could cause the reduced entrainment regression rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.503-506
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• 2009

In this study, we presented the results of static firing tests on the PE/LN2O hybrid rocket motor, which has a thrust of 650 kgf level. Through the early tests, we found that the combustion chamber pressure and the thrust were lower than design values because an actual oxidizer flow rate was less than that expected. In order to complement this result, the methods of decrease of nozzle throat and the increase of oxidizer mass flow rate were conducted in the next experiment, and we studied the combustion phenomena with the experimental results. Also we compared and analyzed a difference of combustion characteristics on scale effect. It show that a sub-scale motor regression rate was a little less than that of a lab-scale motor with the same oxidizer mass flux. Results of this study might be used as a basic data for development of hybrid sounding rocket.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2018

In this study, the thermal and rheological characteristics of a 10 wt.% addition of aluminum particles and the effect of the particle size were investigated to qualitatively analyze the paraffin fuel entrainment regression rate. The results revealed that the addition of aluminum particles and their relative particle size affected the rheological characteristics, rather than the thermal characteristics. Moreover, it was found that the variation of thermal properties had a minor effect on the entrainment regression rate, in comparison to the variation in rheological properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.573-580
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• 2021

Paraffin wax is attracting many attentions for promising solid fuel of hybrid rocket because of its higher regression than other fuels. However, even with paraffin fuel combustion, unsteady low-frequency oscillation of combustion pressure is still observed. And, this is related to the formation of liquid layer and the entrainment of fuel droplets entering the axial combustion gas flow. This study investigates the effect of additional combustion of fuel droplets on the occurrence of low-frequency combustion instability. On the other hand, the formation of fuel droplets depends on Weber Number (the ratio of the inertial force to the surface tension of the liquid) and Reynolds Number of the oxidizer flow. Therefore, a laboratory-scale hybrid rocket was used to monitor the occurrence of combustion instability while changing We number. A series of combustion tests were conducted to control We number by changing the oxidizer flow rate or adding LDPE (low density polyethylene) to base fuel. In the results, it was confirmed that there is a critical We number above which the low-frequency combustion instability occurs.