• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2016

Liquid rocket propulsion is a system that produces required thrust for satellites and space launch vehicles by using chemical reactions of a liquid fuel and a liquid oxidizer. Monomethylhydrazine/dinitrogen tetroxide, liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen and RP-1/liquid oxygen are typical combinations of liquid propellants commonly used for the liquid rocket propulsion system. The objective of the present study is to investigate useful design and performance data of liquid rocket engine by conducting a numerical analysis of thermochemical reactions of liquid rocket propellants. For this, final products and chemical compositions of three liquid propellant combinations are calculated using equilibrium constants of major elementary equilibrium reactions when reactants remain in chemical equilibrium state after combustion process. In addition, flame temperature and specific impulse are estimated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.29-38
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• 2010

The experimental study on paraffin wax/LDPE blended fuel for hybrid rocket was performed. Various combustion characteristics of blended fuel were compared with pure paraffin, HTPB, HDPE and SP-1a fuel in order to evaluate the performance of blended fuel. The regression rate of lab-scale and large-scale motor using pure paraffin fuel was increased by 10.2 and 9.8 factor when respectively compared to that of HDPE. The regression rate factor of blended fuel was 3.4 in which the regression rate of blended fuel was higher than that of HTPB and HDPE, but lower than that of pure paraffin, SP-1a fuel. The values of characteristic velocity and specific impulse of blended fuel was higher than those of pure paraffin, HTPB and HDPE, and almost the same as SP-1a fuel. As these results, it was confirmed that blended fuel can be an effective solid fuel for hybrid rocket.

• 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 of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2017

A design optimization method is applied for the flow path design of RBCC engine, an important factor for the determining the propulsion performance operating at air-breathing mode. A design optimization was carried out to maximize the specific impulse of the RBCC engine by using a genetic algorithm based on the Kriging model. Results are analyzed using ANOVA and SOM. Design conditions of ramjet and scramjet mode are selected as Mach number 4 at 20 km altitude and Mach number 7 at 30 km, respectively. The optimized design presents that the specific impulse is increased by 7% and 10% on each condition than the baseline design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.16-27
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• 2018

A basic numerical analysis was performed to confirm the possibility of combining a dual bell nozzle and an Expansion-Deflection(E-D) nozzle. The dual bell nozzle was designed based on the first-stage nozzle of the Korean Space Launch Vehicle that is being developed, and the E-D nozzle concept was applied to the dual bell nozzle. The inlet condition was analyzed by applying eight types of frozen flow analysis, and k-${\omega}$ SST was selected as the turbulence model. The number of optimal grids was obtained as 240,000 through the grid sensitivity analysis. As a result, it was confirmed that the transition altitude increased owing to over-expansion when the E-D nozzle concept was applied to the dual bell nozzle, and the specific impulse gain was obtained at high altitudes compared with the KSLV-II first-stage engine.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2020

In this study, study on the internal ballistic analysis method for single-chamber dual-thrust rocket motors meeting a dual-thrust profile requirement by tailoring the grain burning area is presented. The analysis method, which can acquire variables required for the performance prediction, considering gradual change of burning rate correction factor and specific impulse in the transition phase, is proposed. Improvements compared to the analysis method in the previous study, which do not consider change in the transition phase, are verified through comparison between the newly proposed method and the method in the previous study. Internal ballistic variables are obtained for four different ground firing test conditions using the proposed method, and the performance prediction for each condition is conducted using these variables. These prediction results and the ground test data are in good agreement, so it is confirmed that the performance prediction of dual-thrust motors with same design geometries based on the proposed analysis method is available.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.34-42
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• 2022

A correlation between propellant supply condition and chamber pressure in GCH₄-LOx small rocket engine was explored and hot-firing tests were conducted to analyze the engine performance characteristics according to the equivalence ratio variation at a constant chamber pressure. Correlation studies have shown that chamber pressure is linearly proportional to oxidizer supply pressure. As a result of the test, the thrust, specific impulse and characteristic velocity that are the main performance parameters of a rocket engine, were found to be enhanced as the equivalence ratio starting from a fuel-lean condition approached the stoichiometric ratio, but the efficiencies of characteristic velocity and specific impulse were on the contrary, in their dependency on the equivalence ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.96-106
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• 2011

There are many advantages in applying gel propellant to a gel propulsion system. These include higher performances, the energy management of liquid propulsion system, reliable storability and low leakage characteristics. Additionally, gel propulsion system are preferable to the high density impulse of propulsion system. Also, when compared to liquid propellants, the gel propellants acquire greater heat energy. Gel propellants achieve a high specific impulse when metal particles with aluminum and boron are added. With respect to atomization, an inactive process occurs due to the variable viscosity of the metal particles and gelling agents. To improve the defect of atomization and combustion characteristics of gel propellant, a variety of issues related to spray and combustion is introduced here.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2017

Hydrogen peroxide is being considered as a monopropellant in micropropulsion systems for the next generation of miniaturized satellites ('nanosats') due to its high energy density, modest specific impulse and green characteristics. Efforts at the University of Vermont have focused on the development of a MEMS-based microthruster that uses a novel slug flow monopropellant injection scheme to generate thrust and impulse-bits commensurate with the intended micropropulsion application. The present study is a computational effort to investigate the initial decomposition of the monopropellant as it enters the catalytic chamber, and to compare the impact of the monopropellant injection scheme on decomposition performance. Two-dimensional numerical studies of the monopropellant in microchannel geometries have been developed and used to characterize the performance of the monopropellant before vaporization occurs. The results of these studies show that monopropellant in the lamellar flow regime, which lacks a non-diffusive mixing mechanism, does not decompose at a rate that is suitable for the microthruster dimensions. In contrast, monopropellant in the slug flow regime decomposes 57% faster than lamellar flow for a given length, indicating that the monopropellant injection scheme has potential benefits for the performance of the microthruster.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• v.y2005m4
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• pp.194-197
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• 2005

Pulse-mode performance evaluation is made for a set of monopropellant hydrazine thrusters producing $0.95 lb_{f}$ of nominal steady-state thrust at an inlet pressure of 350 psia. With a brief description on the hot-firing test matrix, a typical data obtained from pulse-mode firing is given directly showing the variational behavior of propellant supply pressure, vacuum condition, and thrust, in addition to the thermal response of the thruster. The performance features are successfully compared to the reference criteria of 1-lbf standard monopropellant rocket engine.