Space Propulsion

Assignment 3
Injectors – Numerical Problem

Submitted by:
Fahad Ali 170101021

Submitted to
Dr. Ihtzaz Qamar
Problem
A liquid propellant rocket developing a thrust of 5kN uses propellant at a given mixture ratio
and chamber pressure.

Propellant Pair (oxidizer + fuel) Liquid Fluorine + Hydrazine

Chamber Pressure 30 bars
Specific Impulse 338
Mixing Ratio 1.82

A. Determine the diameter and number of injection holes if unlike doublet injector elements
are used, keeping in mind the following constraints.
Injection velocity = 15-30 m/s
Pressure difference across injectors = 7-10 bars

B. How change in velocity is affecting number of injectors of both fuel and oxidizer? Show with
calculations.

C. Change injector diameter to another reasonable value and discuss the changes.

Data

𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 = 𝐹 = 5 𝑘𝑁

𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒 = 𝜌𝑜 = 1505 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 = 𝜌𝑓 = 1000 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 = 𝐶𝑑 = 1 (for ideal case)

Solution

Part A.
We know,
𝑚̇𝑓 + 𝑚̇0 = 𝑚̇𝑃

And,

𝑚̇𝑝
𝑚̇𝑓 =
1+∅

∅
𝑚̇0 = 𝑚𝑝 ( )
∅+1

Now using,
𝐹
𝑚̇𝑃 =
𝐼𝑠𝑝 𝑔0

𝑚̇𝑝 = 5000⁄(338)(9.81) = 1.507 kg/s

Putting values in the above equations,

1.507
𝑚̇𝑓 = = .534 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
1 + 1.82
1.82
𝑚0 = 1.507 ( ) = .973 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
1.82 + 1

For injection velocity,

𝑉 = 𝐶𝑑 √2 △ 𝑃⁄𝜌

Rearranging,

△ 𝑃 = 1⁄2 𝜌𝑉 2
For the given range of velocities and the densities provided in the data, we have calculated △ 𝑃
(in bars) for both fuel and oxidizer using the above mentioned formula;

Velocity △ 𝑷 for fuel △ 𝑷 for oxidizer

15 1.1 1.6
20 2.0 3.0
25 3.1 4.7
30 4.5 6.8

Assuming diameter,
𝑑 = 1.5 × 10−3 𝑚
From Table 8-2, we can say that the orifice type is short tube with rounded entrance because
the value of discharge coefficient is .90 (close to 1.0) so we have assumed the value of diameter
to be 1.5 mm.

Now we can calculate the area of the injector hole as,

πd2
𝐴 =
4
3.14 × (1.5 × 10−3 )2
𝐴 =
4
𝐴 = 1.77 × 10−6 𝑚2

Being the closest to the required range to pressure difference across the injectors, we will
perform our calculations for fuel and oxidizer using the injection velocity to be 30 m/s.

For number of injection holes for oxidizer,

𝑚̇ 𝑜 = 𝑛𝐶𝑑 𝐴√2 △ 𝑃 𝜌
𝑚̇𝑜
𝑛=
𝐶𝑑 𝐴√2 △ 𝑃 𝜌𝑂

Converting △ 𝑃 into N/m2 and putting values,

𝑛𝑜 = 12
Similarly, for fuel we have
𝑚̇𝑓
𝑛=
𝐶𝑑 𝐴√2 △ 𝑃 𝜌𝑓

Putting values,
𝑛𝑓 = 10

Part B.
Changing the velocity to see how it affects the number of injectors for both fuel and oxidizer.

Velocity no nf
30 12 10
25 15 12
20 18 15
15 24 20

We can see that as the injection velocity is decreasing, number of injectors is increasing for
both fuel and the oxidizer.

Part C.
Changing the diameter will change the area of injector holes. At V=30 m/s, using the same
formula,
𝑚̇
𝑛=
𝐶𝑑 𝐴√2 △ 𝑃 𝜌

We have calculated the number of injectors for both fuel and oxidizer as below;

Diameter (mm) no nf
1.5 12 10
1.7 9 7
1.9 8 6
2 7 5

We can see that as the diameter is increasing, number of injectors is decreasing for both fuel
and the oxidizer.