• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.107-118
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• 2017

As the interest in lunar exploration increases, a throttleable engine is regarded as a important technology. Variable area injectors have been identified to be the most reliable throttling method. Pintle injector is a representative injector of the variable method. It has a simple design and inherent combustion stability. Therefore, it is necessary to research the pintle injector. The present study investigates the concept of the injector, the design factors, and the latest development trends for pintle injector design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.304-310
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• 2015

Pintle thrusters use pintle stroke to change nozzle throat area, and this controls thrust. Using MATLAB, one-dimensional simulation has been investigated and the results are compared to those of cold flow tests and computational fluid dynamics for the pintle thruster of Chungnam National University. The prediction based on one-dimensional flow theory shows good agreement with measurements for chamber pressure, but deviates for thrust, partly because of nozzle wall separation. Computational results show that nozzle wall separation occurs at an early stage of nozzle expansion, near the design nozzle throat, for the course of pintle strokes. Empirical thrust prediction incorporates nozzle wall separation, and thus 1-D simulation using empirical thrust prediction showed good results for an early stage of pintle stroke.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.311-317
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• 2015

This paper describes how to apply one-dimensional simulation to predict unsteady state characteristics of the cold-gas pintle thruster. Mass flow rate, chamber pressure, and nozzle exit pressure are key parameters for thrust control. Chamber pressure rose and fell monotonously with the pintle stroke variation, while thrust variation was different from chamber pressure variation. During the forward pintle stroke operation, the thrust value tended to decrease initially and returned to increase when pintle speed and chamber free volume exceed some specified value. Even though one-dimensional simulation has the limitations to predict unsteady state characteristics, it is still useful for initial performance assessment of various thrusters which adopt an altitude compensation nozzle such as a dual-bell nozzle, prior to experiment or numerical analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2015

In this paper, unsteady characteristics of pressure in solid rocket motor were analyzed by using response of pintle actuation, pressure and thrust data from ground test. Pressure and thrust in solid rocket motor can be controlled in real time by varying nozzle throat area with pintle, installed in the valve. Unsteady characteristics of pressure can be observed in this system occurred by various reasons. Two critical reasons, error of pintle actuation and ablation of center tube, are found and effects of each reason can be analyzed individually by re-prediction of pressure with response of pintle actuation and analyzing thrust to pressure ratio.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.383-387
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• 2017

A three dimensional numerical analysis has been conducted to analyze the effects of a pipe angle, connecting a combustion chamber and a pintle nozzle, and pintle position on pintle nozzle performance. The compressibility correction of $k-{\omega}$ SST turbulent model was implemented to precisely predict the characteristics of complex flow structures inside a supersonic pintle nozzle. Due to an 3-D asymmetric pintle nozzle configuration, complex helical flow streamlines and large flow separations were observed, which resulting in significant nozzle performance losses. As the angle of connection-tube decreases, the coefficient of performance increases and Since the flow structures are evidently changed to the pintle stroke position, the performance characteristics was analyzed.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

A design factor analysis was conducted to reduce the thrust reduction in the off-design, due to the driving of the aerospike pintle nozzle. The close (NPR 100) as well as the open (NPR 11) stroke were fixed, as under-expansion conditions. The pintle contour, pintle head radius (R), cowl angle (θ), and cowl exit length (L) were selected as design factors. The change in thrust was analyzed, using a verified numerical analysis technique. First, the pintle head radius and the length of the cowl exit had little influence on the thrust. The cowl angle changed the mass flow rate by affecting the effective nozzle throat area, and created a reverse pressure gradient at the cowl exit. As a result of applying the dual aerospike contour, it was confirmed that the thrust in the design-off increased by approximately 1.2%, compared to the reference case and by approximately 3.4% compared to the worst case.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2009

Both the nozzle expansion ratio and the chamber pressure are simultaneously and continuously changed according to pintle movement, resulting in a different internal flow structure and flow separation characteristics. In this paper, the pintle position effect on nozzle flow structure and separation phenomena is analyzed by experimental-aided Computational Fluid Dynamic(CFD). Among the turbulent models for RANS(Reynold Averaged Navier Stokes) in Fluent, Spalart-Allmaras model is better agreement with the nozzle wall pressure distribution attained by cold-flow test than other models. And even if a conical nozzle is used, there is a shock structure similar to cap-shock pattern mainly occurred in contoured or shaped optimized nozzle because of internal shock generated from pintle tip flow separation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.47-55
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• 2018

In order to determine whether three-dimensional effects exist in a pintle nozzle of axisymmetric shape, a three-dimensional numerical analysis was performed. The compressibility correction was implemented with the k-${\omega}$ SST turbulence model to predict the complex flow separation transition in acceptable accuracy. Recirculation zones were observed at both the front end and rear faces of the pintle, and the flow through the pintle nozzle conveyed complex shock wave structures. Three-dimensional effects that resulted from the reasonable flow separation location were noted, and a trace of the transient pressure increase was observed, mismatched by a two-dimensional axi-symmetric analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.43-53
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• 2022

In this study, analysis of the flow characteristics of pintle-controlled nozzle with split-line TVC system and the thrust performance prediction was performed. The numerical computation was verified by comparing the thrust coefficient derived from the analysis results with the experimental data. By applying the same numerical analysis technique, the flow characteristics of nozzle were confirmed according to operating altitude, pintle stroke position and TVC angle with the 1/10 scale. As the TVC angle increased, thrust loss occurred and the tendency of AF was different depending on the position of the pintle stroke. Based on the analysis results, the relation of thrust coefficient was derived by applying the response surface methods. The thrust performance model with a slight difference of 1.2% on average from the analysis result was generated.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.585-592
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• 2015

Effects of opening distance on liquid-gas spray of pintle injector were experimentally investigated under atmospheric condition by using water and air as simulants of propellants. Discharge coefficients($C_d$) and mass flow rates were calculated with various injection conditions; 0.1 bar - 1.0 bar for water pressures and 0.2 mm - 1.0 mm for the pintle opening distances. Spray angles were measured from the spray images that were obtained by a shadowgraphy method. When opening distance is 0.2 mm, liquid sheet is not formed properly and it show non-uniform spray. than it can result in combustion instability. it has a weak correlation between the momentum flux ratio and the spray angle, while it has a strong correlation between the momentum ratio and spray angle. Finally the spray angles reduced exponentially when the momentum ratio increased and the spray angles converged to about 40 degrees.