Introduction to Rocket Propulsion: Lecture

Hybrid Rockets: Overview and Applications

 Outline

• Brief history of Hybrids

• Architecture and engine layout
• Applications
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Classical Regression Rate Theory
• Propellant Considerations
• Shifting O/F ratio

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 Brief History of Hybrid Rockets

• Hybrid rockets date back to the 1930s

• Response to the hazardous nature of solid rockets using gunpowder
• German engineer Hermann Oberth attempted to construct and test a LOX – graphite
rocket  poor results
• 1940s  the Pacific Rocket Society uses LOX and wood
• 1960s  United States of America begins active sponsorship of hybrid rocket
programmes
• 1959  Spalding and Jain from the Imperial College in London describe the
regression of the solid fuel in hybrid rockets:

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 Brief History of Hybrid Rockets cont.

• Very little additional research on hybrid rocket motors was done until the
mid-1980s
• Following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, further interest in hybrid
rocket motors occurred
• NASA began the Hybrid Propulsion Technology (HPT) programme
• Research was largely abandoned due to slow regression rates of HTPB
fuels that were used
• In 2002, Karabeyoglu showed that paraffin based fuels burn three to four
times faster than conventional rubber based fuels (HTPB).

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 Applications

• Hybrid rockets are generally safer and so are

often looked to for situations requiring lower
operational costs and a higher degree of
safety

• Examples include the space tourism industry,

small commercial rockets, replacements for
boosters etc
SpaceShipOne – N2O and HTPB propellant combination

• Hybrid motors are also well suited to upper Photo by scaled composites. SpaceShipOne is a Paul G. Allen Project
© Mojave Aerospace Ventures, LLC
stage applications e.g satellite placement,
docking etc, as well as a viable alternative to
hazardous monopropellant RCS

• Their safety, throttleability, shutdown and

restart capability, and low environmental
impact make them sought after alternatives

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/sites/default/files/styles/hero_image/public/
05_Rocket_LR.jpg?itok=vMNEvEVX

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 Overview and Advantages

Combination of liquid and solid rockets

• Fuel usually solid
• Oxidizer usually liquid

Advantages: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/system/images/images/000/000/412/full/Hybrid-rocket-
engine20151021-1314-1g9tiw.jpg?1522294385

• Higher Isp than solid rockets

• Simpler than liquid rockets

• Generally safer than both

• Well suited to commercial

applications

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSF1A-sPaGnf7IJBTzAUbxO-KJgU3yo2waXf6N41nU1M018Y8Uk

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 Disadvantages

• Generally lower performance than liquid and solid

rockets

• Early iterations using fuels like HTPB required a number

of ports which compromised the integrity of the fuel
grain

• More complex (and temperamental!) than solids,

though generally simpler than liquids

• Very important: O/F ratio (and therefore Isp, c*) varies

throughout “steady operation” – this is annoying

• Prone to “chugging” – a low amplitude combustion

instability

• Relatively untested technology

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What Are Sounding Rockets?

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Operation

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 Operation

• The governing equation for hybrid rocket

combustion shows the regression rate is
dependent on the oxidizer mass flux rate

• Increase in diameter of the fuel port results in

an increased fuel mass flow rate

• This phenomenon makes the oxidizer to fuel https://images.slideplayer.com/27/8946847/slides/slide_2.jpg

ratio (O/F) shift during the burn

Theoretical performance of the Phoenix 1B Mk II hybrid rocket.

Broughton, K (2018). MOTOR DESIGN FOR A SUB-ORBITAL HYBRID

ROCKET. Durban: University of KwaZulu-Natal. 46.
https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3Ntq.jpg

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 NASA Peregrine Rocket

NASA’s Peregrine rocket uses a paraffin wax fuel and a LOX oxidiser

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Classical Regression Rate
Theory

Boronowsky, 2011

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Thrust Dependence on Oxidiser
Flowrate
From the thrust equation described earlier:

Total mass flow rate, , is equal to:

Assuming a circular port, uniform throughout:

Expanding surface area term:

Returning to the regression rate discussed earlier:

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Thrust Dependence on Oxidiser Flowrate

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 Fuel Configurations
Due to the slow regression rate of hybrid rocket motors, the grains are
often arranged in configurations that increase the surface area in contact
with oxidiser flow. This increases the mass flow rate of the fuel and
therefore the thrust as well. Structural issues persist in these
configurations making it untenable.

Humble, 1995 Seitzman, 2007

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 Fuel Configurations

Grain shapes are optimised to deliver a predetermined thrust profile. More

complex shapes (to achieve vortex flow for example) can be made using 3D
printing technology

https://i.stack.imgur.com/PzDnY.gif

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Increasing Oxidiser Flowrate

Georgia Tech, 2017

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 Solution??

It turns out the same stuff we make

candles out of is quite suitable for use
in rockets!

Ballistic coefficients and regression rate at an oxidiser mass flux of

Balmogim, U; 2017

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Paraffin Wax Compared to Other Fuels

Seitzman, 2006

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Metallised Additives

Maharaj, 2018

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Metallised Additives

Risha, G. A., Evans, B. J., Boyer, E., and Kuo, K. K., 2007. Metals, Energetic Additives, and Special Binders Used in Solid Fuels
for Hybrid Rockets. In: Chiaverini, M. J. and Kuo, K. (eds.). Fundamentals of Hybrid Rocket Combustion and Propulsion. 413–
456.

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Issues with Metallised Additives

Maharaj, 2018

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