Combustion instabilities in liquid rocket engines : testing and development practices in Rusia

This is the first book in the literature to cover the development and testing practices for liquid rocket engines in Russia and the former Soviet Union.Combustion instability represents one of the most challenging probelms in the development of propulsion engines. A famous example is the F-1 engines for the first stage of the Saturn V launch vehicles in the Apollo project. More than 2000 full engine tests and a vast number of design modifications were conducted to cure the instability problem.This book contains first-hand information about the testing and development practices for treating liquid rocket combustion-instability problems in Russia and the former Soviet Union. It covers more than 50 years of research, with an emphasis placed on the advances made since 1970.The book was prepared by a former R&D director of the Research Institute of Chemical Engineering, NIICHIMMASH, the largest liquid rocket testing center in the world, and has been carefully edited by three well-known experts in the field.

Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xix
Chapter 1 Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 2 Terms and Definitions	p. 7
Chapter 3 Mechanisms of Transition from Noise to High-Frequency Oscillations or to Noise at a New Level	p. 15
Soft Excitation in Combustion Chambers and Gas Generators	p. 15
Hard Excitation of Oscillations in Combustion Chambers	p. 16
Probabilistic Excitation of an Instability Caused by Fluctuations of Noise Amplitude	p. 17
Chapter 4 Uncertainty in Conversion of Propellant to Combustion Products	p. 23
Uncertainty in Mixing System	p. 23
Operating Process Uncertainty Caused by Loss of Flame Stabilization in Injectors of Gas-Liquid Combustion Chambers	p. 28
Chapter 5 Studies of Operating Process Stability at Various Stages of Combustor Development	p. 33
Design Stage	p. 33
Laboratory Tests of Hydraulic, Acoustic, and Combustion Models of Combustion Chambers and Gas Generators	p. 41
Tests of Combustion Chambers and Gas Generators Under Actual Regimes and as Part of Engine Assembly	p. 42
Test Organization, Measurement Requirements, and Processing of Rapidly Varying Parameters	p. 43
Control of Consistency of Stability Characteristics in Serial Production	p. 47
Chapter 6 Quantitative Characteristics for Estimating Stability of LRE Combustion Chambers and Gas Generators	p. 49
Definition of Problems	p. 49
Stability Characteristics	p. 51
Relationship Between Amplitude and Decrement of Pressure Oscillations	p. 60
Stability Studies for a Model Chamber by Shutting off the Nozzle (D-45)	p. 63
Chapter 7 Acoustic Study of Combustion Chamber Stability Characteristics	p. 69
Identification of Natural Modes of Pressure Oscillations	p. 69
Identification of Natural Modes of Pressure Oscillations Using Vibration Measurements	p. 77
Methods for Simulating Acoustic Pressure Oscillations in Combustion Chambers	p. 80
Effects of Combustion-Chamber and Nozzle Configurations Oil Stability Characteristics	p. 84
Acoustic Characteristics of Combustion Chambers with Vibration Baffles	p. 85
Resonance Absorbers	p. 91
Adjusted Injectors	p. 96
Cold Zone	p. 98
Absorption by Porous Bottom	p. 99
Chapter 8 Determination of Stability of Oscillations from Natural Disturbances	p. 101
Methods for Determination of Oscillation Decrement from Natural Disturbances (Noise) in a Chamber	p. 101
Accuracy of Determining Oscillation Decrement by Different Methods	p. 105
Peculiarities of Stability Evaluation Under Transient Conditions	p. 106
Methods of Determination of Stability from Natural Pressure Disturbances	p. 114
Chapter 9 Evaluation of LRE Process Stability by Use of Artificial Pressure Disturbances	p. 119
General Requirements for Devices Generating Pressure Oscillations	p. 119
Propagation of Pressure Disturbances in Combustion Chamber	p. 122
Choice and Substantiation of Pressure Pulses Generated in Combustion Chambers	p. 126
Design Features of Disturbance Devices	p. 130
Dependence of Pressure Disturbance Characteristics on Physical and Design Parameters	p. 137
Selection of Minimum Artificial Pulse for Estimation of Stability Margin to Hard Excitation	p. 150
Accuracy of Determination of Stability Margin to Hard Excitation	p. 153
Procedure of Analyzing LRE Process Stability by Use of Artificial Pressure Pulses	p. 164
Chapter 10 Model Firing Tests for Selection of Injector Head Elements	p. 171
Basic Principles and Rules for Approximate Simulations	p. 172
Concept of Simulating Combustion Instability at Low Pressures	p. 173
Methods of Evaluating Agreement Between Model- and Full-Scale Test Results	p. 174
Schematic Diagrams of Model Units and Test Conditions	p. 179
Examples of Using the Firing Simulation Methods for Studying Stability in a Combustion Chamber	p. 183
Chapter 11 Estimation of Operating Process Stability from Pressure Oscillation Decrements	p. 191
Main Design Characteristics of Tested Combustion Chambers and Injector Heads	p. 192
Pressure Oscillation Decrements for Guaranteed Stability	p. 193
Determination of Operating Process Stability to High-Frequency Pressure Oscillations and Its Dependence on Propellant Flow Rates	p. 195
Dependence of Pressure Oscillation Decrement on Oxidizer-to-Fuel Ratio	p. 197
Influence of Injection Pressure Drop on Stability	p. 200
Influence of Recess of Injector Nozzle Edge on Stability	p. 202
Influence of Dynamic Characteristics of Mixing System on Stability	p. 203
Influence of Mixing-System Unsteadiness on Stability	p. 204
Chapter 12 Test Results for Pulsing Liquid-Liquid Chambers	p. 207
Estimation of Operating Process Stability to Hard Excitation	p. 208
Relationship Between Probabilistic Excitation of Instability and Critical Amplitude	p. 218
Estimation of Influence of Propellant Flow Rate and Fuel/Oxidizer Mixture Ratio	p. 220
Application of Artificial Disturbance for Estimating Efficiency of Vibration Baffles	p. 221
Influence of Chamber Diameter and Relative Flow Ratio on Stability to Hard Excitation	p. 223
Chapter 13 Stability of Gas-Liquid Combustion Chambers	p. 227
Characteristics of Gas-Liquid Combustion Chambers and Injector Heads	p. 227
Stability, Chamber Pressure, and Oxidizer/Fuel Ratio	p. 228
Influence of Relative Flow Ratio on Stability	p. 230
Relationship Between Operating Process Stability and Number of Liquid Entry Holes in an Injector and Their Distances from Edge	p. 231
Effects of Injector Length on Stability	p. 233
Influence of Fuel Temperature at Engine Inlet on Stability	p. 235
Change of Stability Characteristics Near High Oscillation Region	p. 236
Chapter 14 Gas-Liquid Combustion-Chamber Tests for Stability to Hard Excitation	p. 241
Characteristics of Gas-Liquid Combustion Chambers	p. 241
Hard Excitation Characteristics of Gas-Liquid Engine Combustion Chambers	p. 242
Enhancement of Stability of Engine 4D75	p. 245
Influence of Gaseous Oxidizer Velocity on Stability	p. 247
Chapter 15 Injector Head for RD-170 Engine Combustion Chamber	p. 253
Introduction	p. 253
Separate Tests of RD-170 Engine Combustion Chambers in Special Units	p. 254
Characteristics of Mixing Heads on Units 1UKS and 2UK	p. 256
Operating Process Stability for Units 1UKS and 2UK with Different injector Heads	p. 261
Stability to Hard Excitation for Chambers Tested as Part of Unit 2UK	p. 265
Relation Between Stability Characteristics and Combustion Efficiency Under Nominal Conditions	p. 266
Improvement of Stability in Unit 2UKS	p. 268
Evaluation of Stability in Combustion Chamber as Part of Engine	p. 277
Chapter 16 Stability Characteristics of Engines with Adjustable Injectors	p. 283
Chapter 17 Control of Stability in Production of the Proton Engine	p. 295
References	p. 309
Bibliography	p. 313
Index	p. 315
Supporting Materials	p. 321

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