• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2014

Hybrid rocket displays many different low frequency pressure oscillations during combustion. Thermal lag between solid and gas phase is the primary mechanism to trigger low frequency pressure oscillations of around 10Hz, and Helmholtz or $L^*$ mode also produces other types of low frequency oscillations above 10 Hz which is associated with the change in combustion volume. Since the flow characteristics in hybrid rocket is very similar to those in solid rocket combustion, it is not surprising to observe similar pressure oscillation behaviors. Experimental test shows that combustion pressure suddenly turns into to a big amplitude oscillation around 10Hz then followed by returning to an original pressure level after a short period combustion. Further investigations show that this instability is independent of the change in O/F ratio at all. One of the possible candidates is the vortex shedding dynamics over the backward step in the post combustion chamber. It is required to investigate the low frequency oscillation mechanism in the future study.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.1021-1027
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• 2018

Experimental studies have been conducted to verify that the positive coupling between pressure oscillation (p') and combustion oscillation (q') of high frequency range is a prerequisite for the initiation of low frequency instability in hybrid rocket combustion. The post-chamber length and combustion equivalence ratio were selected as critical parameters to control the phase difference between p' and q', and p' amplitude in relation to the suppression of LFI. In the results, even if the post-chamber length increases, the phase difference between p' and q' maintains below pi/2, which is a necessary condition for the LFI development, but the amplification of RI (Rayleigh index) was substantially decreased leading to a stable combustion. In addition, results confirmed that combustion stability is achieved by changing the momentary equivalence ratio and/or by suppressing the positive coupling status of p' and q'. Thus, the periodic amplification of RI was identified as the middle path of the mechanism of occurrence of LFI.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.8
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• pp.677-683
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• 2015

Hybrid rocket combustion displays low frequency instability(LFI, 10~30Hz) at a certain condition. Vortex shedding in the post-chamber is suspected to cause the occurrence of LFI. This study focused on the visualization of flow image using light emissions from high temperature combustion gas. Results shows that combustion pressure oscillates at a frequency of about 18 Hz, which is in phase with oscillations of light emission. Since LFI is not a property of thermo-acoustic instability, this result suggested there exists a physical coupling of pressure fluctuations with light emissions proportional to chemical reaction. Also POD analysis shows that dominant symmetric spatial modes in the stable combustion shift suddenly into asymmetric spatial pattern with the appearance of LFI. Especially, the appearance of mode 3 is a typical change of flow dynamics in unstable combustion representing a rotational fluid motions associated with vortex shedding.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2021

In hybrid rocket combustion, the oxidizer swirl injection is frequently used to stabilize the combustion as the rotational velocity component affects the boundary layer flow. However, as the swirl strength increases, a problem arises where the combustion performance changes too much. Thus, this study attempts to control the low frequency instability while minimizing the change in combustion performance by adapting attenuated swirl injection with fuel insert used in reference [7]. To this end, a series of experimental tests were performed by varying swirl intensity and the location of the fuel insert. In the tests, the occurrence of combustion instability and combustion performance were closely monitored. The results confirmed that combustion instability was successfully suppressed at the condition of the swirl angle 6 degree and the location of fuel insert 310 mm. And, the changes in combustion pressure, O/F ratio, and fuel regression rate were found as minimal compared to the baseline case. Also the results reconfirmed that the formation of positive coupling between two high frequency oscillations in 500 Hz band, combustion pressure(p') and heat release oscillation(q'), is the necessary and sufficient condition of the occurrence of low frequency instability.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.720-727
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• 2019

Resonating thermal lags of solid fuel with heat transfer oscillations generated by boundary layer oscillation is the primary mechanism of the occurrence of the LFI (Low Frequency Combustion Instability) in hybrid rocket combustion. This study was experimentally attempted to confirm that how the boundary layer was perturbed and led to the LFI. Special attention was also made on oxidizer swirl injection to investigate the contribution to combustion stabilization. Also the overall behavior of fluctuating boundary layer flow and the occurrence of the LFI was monitored as swirl intensity increased. Fluctuating boundary layer was successfully monitored by the captured image and POD (Proper Orthogonal Decomposition) analysis. In the results, oscillating boundary layer became stabilized as the swirl intensity increases. And the coupling strength between high frequency p', q' diminished and periodical amplification of RI (Rayleigh Index) with similar frequency band of thermal lag was also decreased. Thus, results confirmed that oscillating axial boundary layer triggered by periodic coupling of high frequency p', q' is the primary mechanism to excite thermal resonance with thermal lag characteristics of solid fuel.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2019

To understand the low frequency instability(LFI) characteristics in hybrid rockets combustion, effects of equivalence ratio variations on the phase shift between pressure and heat release oscillations were investigated by using the direct numerical simulation. The change in the equivalence ratio of the main chamber was simulated by the temperature and composition variation of the combustion gas introduced into the post-combustion chamber. In the results, additional combustion appeared along with vortex generation at the backward step, and combustion pressure and heat release oscillations were observed as the vortex moved. In addition, the results confirmed that the phase difference between the pressure and heat release oscillation shifts because of the changes in the propagation velocity of pressure wave as the temperature of combustion gas changes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.783-789
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• 2022

In a recent study, it was observed that the combustion gas entering the post chamber of a hybrid rocket contains vortices with very small size and high frequency characteristics. In addition, it was observed that small vortices collided with the nozzle wall to create a counter-flow, resulting in additional combustion with ignition delay. This study investigated the physical relationship between ignition delay induced by the counter-flow and the formation of beating pressure. To do this, a newly modified model was proposed by including ignition delay in the existing energy kicked oscillator model proposed by Culick. Numerical results show that the ignition delay is an important factor in determining the occurrence of the combustion pressure beats through the periodic formation of thermoacoustic coupling. In addition, when the ignition delay was reduced by increasing the post chamber length, the phase difference between the energy kick and the pressure generation was increased, the periodic pressure beats did not occur at all.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.7
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• pp.585-592
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• 2016

Visualization was done by using $CH^*$ chemiluminescence images and PMT measurements in order to understand the origin of fluctuating pressure and chemical luminosity at about 500 Hz frequency even in stable combustion, which was observed in recent experimental tests, and to find the physical correlation leading to Low Frequency Instability(LFI) in terms of phase angle. In stable combustion, chemical reactions are distributed along the shear layer flow showing a negative coupling(about 180 degree in phase angle) with combustion pressure. However, phase difference is shifted to a positive coupling showing less than 90 degree in unstable case. Also a periodic change in the distribution of chemical reactions is observed along with local flame extinction and the appearance of big scale vortex flow. In the transition to LFI, local flame extinction and small vortex flow start to appear in a row. As seen in the bluff body wake in reactive flow, the periodic appearance of vortex flow seems to share the same physical process of BVK(Bernard Von Karman) instability generation. Thus, the appearance of local extinction in 500 Hz fluctuations is gradually amplified to complete extinctions of about 20 Hz, and it leads into LFI.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.81-89
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• 2018

In this study, the operating characteristics of a small-scale pulse detonation engine (PDE) were investigated experimentally for application as a small thruster and an igniter. The PDE was constructed using commercial gas tubes with an inner diameter of 4.22 mm. The operating and detonation propagation characteristics of the PDE were investigated over the ranges of equivalence ratios and operating frequencies. Measured detonation speed was close to 10% of the theoretical CJ values at 1 Hz and 5 Hz conditions. However, unstable propagation characteristics were shown at 20 Hz and lean conditions, where the velocity deficit was increased by 20~62%.