Practical Approach of Rocket

Engine Design

DAY 5
Thrust Chamber Cooling

Alex Kwak
Turbopump Dept., Korea Aerospace Research Institute
Lecture Goals

- Able to explain
Kind of cooling
Reynolds, Prandtl and Nusselt number

- Should understand
Logical flow of heat transfer analysis for regenerative cooling
Heat Transfer

- Name three types of heat transfer.

- Thermal conductivity? Well-known, no problem.

- Convection?????
- Emissivity? Well-known as well.
Types of Cooling

- Regenerative Cooling
Most widely applied.
The propellants fed through passages in the wall, before
being injected into the chamber
Types of Cooling

- Film Cooling
A coolant is injected forming the thin film around the
injector periphery or throat.
Used particularly for high heat fluxes
Types of Cooling

- Transpiration Cooling
Introducing a coolant through porous chamber walls
Special type of film cooling
Homogenous, less coolant flow rate

Hot gas Boundary layer

Solid wall
Porous wall

Coolant reservoir
Types of Cooling

- Ablative Cooling
Wall material is sacrificed by melting, vaporization, and
chemical deposition to dissipate heat.
Consist of wall, insulator and liner (silica fabric or carbon
composite)
Low combustion pressure; <20 barA

- Radiation Cooling
Heat is radiated away from wall
For low heat flux regions, such as nozzle extensions
Reynolds, Nusselt and Prandtl Number

- Reynolds Number
Measure of flow condition (laminar or turbulent)
Friction loss coefficient (f) in internal flow is expressed in Re.

- Nusselt Number
Ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer at a
boundary in a fluid.
Reynolds, Nusselt and Prandtl Number

- Prandtl Number
Ratio of momentum diffusivity to thermal diffusivity

- In practical, for turbulent boundary layers

Regenerative Cooling

- Issues in Designing Cooling Passages

Keep wall temperature below material limits
Keep pressure drop reasonable

Coolant convection
Conduction within wall

Hot gas convection

Regenerative Cooling

Chamber inner
wall
Carbon layer
Gas side Coolant side
boundary layer boundary layer

Coolant
Temperature

Combustion
gas

Radial distance from center of chamber

Regenerative Cooling

- Designing cooling channels?

- Velocity (v) is
- Fall into determination of D
Regenerative Cooling

- Start from where??

Must figure out the thermal input
Hot gas thermodynamics and transport properties
Fluent, CEA etc.
Guess which properties are known as input in the below.
Time to Break
Regenerative Cooling – Hot Gas Convection

is adiabatic wall temperature which is defined as;

is local recovery factor.

Regenerative Cooling – Hot Gas Convection

is hot gas heat transfer coefficient of convection

- Bartz correlation
Regenerative Cooling – Hot Gas Convection

is correction factor for boundary layer

Regenerative Cooling – Hot Gas Convection

- Prandtl number approximation

- Viscosity approximation

°
Regenerative Cooling – Conduction

- Sample 1D conduction
flow
,

, ,
Regenerative Cooling – Coolant Convection

- Sieder-Tate correlation 𝑁𝑢 = 𝑎 𝑅𝑒 𝑃𝑟 = 𝑓(ℎ)

: coolant viscosity at bulk temp. @

: coolant viscosity at sidewall temp. @

-> It is cross-coupled with unknowns.

Regenerative Cooling – Coolant Convection

- Shell correlation 𝑁𝑢 = 𝑎 𝑅𝑒 𝑃𝑟 = 𝑓(ℎ)

- Rocketdyne correlation

RP1 methane
Regenerative Cooling – Coolant Convection

- For subcritical coolant

Set coolant bulk temperature ( ) to be below its critical
temperature with some margin.

Coolant convection
Conduction within wall

Hot gas convection

Regenerative Cooling – Coolant Convection

- For supercritical coolant

Coolant convection
Conduction within wall

Hot gas convection

Liquid Film Cooling

- Correlation for liquid film cooling

Radiation Cooling

Combustion Radiation
Gases

: Bulk wall temperature

: Total emissivity of outer wall surface
: Stefan-Boltzmann constant