• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2014

The oxidizer-rich preburner's combustion tests were fulfilled in the development process of staged combustion cycle rocket engines. The exhaust plume from an oxidizer-rich preburner is relatively transparent because combustion takes place in oxidizer rich state. During hot fire tests a still and infrared images were captured to visualize the plume structure, temperature distribution and so on. In addition, the exhaust plume was numerically investigated to figure out the detailed characteristics. The combustion was not considered for the numerical modeling, but the mixing of exhaust plume with circumstantial air was modeled by species transport model with several turbulence models. The inner structure of plume was configured out by the comparison of numerical results with experimental results, and the validity of applied numerical models was verified.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.453-459
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• 2004

An axially staged combustor equipped with an LPP combustion system and CMC liner walls has been investigated for stable combustion and low NOx emissions for the ESPR project. Several fuel injectors were designed and manufactured for the LPP burner, and single sector combustor tests were conducted to evaluate fundamental combustion characteristics such as emissions, instabilities, auto-ignition, and flash back at typical operating conditions from idle to Mn 2.2 cruise. The latest test results showed that the LPP burner had a good potential for the low NOx target. It was also found that the NOx emission level was greatly affected by a distortion in the air flow velocity field upstream of the LPP burner due to the diffuser and fuel feed arm. The CMC material was investigated to apply for the high temperature and low NOx combustor. Annular combustor liner walls were manufactured with the CMC material, and they have been tested at low pressure conditions to evaluate the soundness of the material and the mounting and seal system. This paper reports the latest research activities on the LPP combustion system and CMC liner walls for the ESPR project.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• v.y2005m4
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• pp.1-1
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• 2005

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) has been conducting research and development of the Scramjet engines and their derivative combined cycle engines as hypersonic propulsion system for space access. Its history will be introduced first, and its recent advances, focusing on the engine performance progress, will follow. Finally, future plans for a flight test of scramjet and ground test of combined cycle engine will be introduced. Two types of test facilities for testing those hypersonic engines. namely, the 'Ramjet Engine Test Facility (RJTF)' and the 'High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel (HIEST)' were designed and fabricated during 1988 through 1996. These facilities can test engines under simulated flight Mach numbers up to 8 for the former, whereas beyond 8 for the latter, respectively. Several types of hydrogen-fueled scramjet engines have been designed, fabricated and tested under flight conditions of Mach 4, 6 and 8 in the RJTF since 1996. Initial test results showed that the thrust was insufficient because of occurrence of flow separation caused by combustion in the engines. These difficulty was later eliminated by boundary-layer bleeding and staged fuel injection. Their results were compared with theory to quantify achieved engine performances. The performances with regards to combustion, net thrust are discussed. We have reached the stage where positive net thrust can be attained for all the test coditions. Results of these engine tests will be discussed. We are also intensively attempting the improvement of thrust performance at high speed condition of Mach 8 to 15 in High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel (HIEST). Critical issues for this purposemay be air/fuel mixing enhancement, and temperature control of combustion gas to avoid thermal dissociation. To overcome these issues we developed the Hypermixier engine which applies stream-wise vortices for mixing enhancement, and the M12-engines which optimizes combustor entrance temperature. Moreover, we are going to conduct the flight experiment of the Hypermixer engine by utilizing flight test infrastructure (HyShot) provided by the University of Queensland in fall of 2005 for comparison with the HIEST result. The plan of the flight experiment is also presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.32-42
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• 2022

The strategy to develop a launch vehicle family by bundling multiple rocket engines of a single type has been proven by SpaceX and their reusable fleet comprised of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. In this study, we revisit a potential launch vehicle family out of a 35 tonf-class methalox staged combustion cycle engine and evaluate their utility and performance in various space missions. For example, a Korean version of Falcon 9 can deliver 4.7 tons of payload into 500 km SSO in an expendable mode while the payload is reduced to 2.16 tons in a sea-landing reusable mode. A Korean version of Falcon Heavy can deliver 4.4 tons into GTO when launched from the Naro Space Center, indicating that this common booster core configuration can handle Cheollian 2 albeit the high inclination. Once developed, the same methaloax engine can power the first-stage of smallsat launch vehicles and air launch vehicles.