Subcritical/Supercritical Droplet Cluster Behavior in Dense and Dilute Regions of Sprays

Abstract

Concern for efficiently, stability, and safety margins of bipropellant combustion in rocket engines has prompted the investigation of many specific aspects of spray behavior previously not studied. Thus, early studies of combustion in liquid rocket engines were based on the results of the classical single-component, isolated drop combustion at atmospheric pressure. Although the results from these studies provided a baseline for understanding some of the phenomena occurring in liquid rocket engines, they fail to explain important observations and facts obtained from examining rocket performance after many flights. Examples are the loss of about 3% of the liquid oxygen (LOX, one of the propellants) that exists unburned, and the existence of striations on the inner wall of engines after a flight. It then becomes apparent that many significant issues of liquid rocket spray combustion were not addressed by the early models, and that to mitigate existing problems, it is necessary to understand aspect previously unexplored.

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