The Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate is developing higher energy density hydrocarbon fuels for application in reusable liquid rocket engines. For increased performance and operability, next generation engines will require better thermal stability understanding of hydrocarbon fuels under high heat fluxes. Of the existing thermal stability test rigs, none have the ability to accurately simulate the high heat flux conditions that will exist in the cooling channels of these new high-pressure hydrocarbon engines. To design and test fuels to meet the high reliability and reusability requirements proposed for these engines, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards AFB has designed the High Heat Flux Facility (HHFF) using experience gained from past thermal stability test rig experiments. In order to design a facility capable of simulating the higher heat fluxes expected in the channels, CFD++, a Metacomp Technologies Inc. computational fluid dynamics software suite, was employed to optimize the design prior to manufacture. Conjugate heat transfer calculations were performed in a single computational domain containing the copper heater block and the fluid channel of the new test rig design. The parameters of interest during each experiment will be heat transfer coefficient, degree of coking and corrosion in the channel, and pressure drop as a function of heat flux, wall temperature, Reynolds number, channel material, fuel composition and pressure. AFRL's HHFF will be an important tool for facilitating the development and transition of new advanced hydrocarbon fuels.
With both the Air Force and NASA interested in developing reusable hydrocarbon-fueled engine technologies for reusable launch vehicles, there is an increased need to better understand the thermal stability of hydrocarbon fuels under high heat fluxes encountered during regenerative cooling. Currently, no existing thermal stability test rig can accurately simulate the high heat flux conditions that will exist in the cooling channels of these new high-pressure hydrocarbon engines. To meet the high reliability and reusability requirements proposed for these engines, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has designed a High Heat Flux Facility (HHFF) using experience gained from past and present thermal stability test rigs. CFD++, a Metacomp Technologies Inc. computational fluid dynamics software suite, was employed to optimize the design prior to manufacture. Conjugate heat transfer calculations were performed in a single computational domain containing the copper heater block and the fluid channel of the new test rig design. The first tests conducted in the facility will be highly instrumented and will be used to validate the CFD++ calculations. The parameters of interest for a given geometry are the heat transfer coefficient, the degree of coking and corrosion in the channel, and the pressure drop as functions of heat flux, wall temperature, Reynolds number, channel material, fuel composition and pressure. The HHFF will be an important tool to facilitate the development and transition of new advanced hydrocarbon fuels under study by AFRL.
The Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate is developing higher energy density hydrocarbon fuels for application in reusable liquid rocket engines. For increased performance and operability, next generation engines will require better thermal stability understanding of hydrocarbon fuels under high heat fluxes. Of the existing thermal stability test rigs, none have the ability to accurately simulate the high heat flux conditions that will exist in the cooling channels of these new high-pressure hydrocarbon engines. To design and test fuels to meet the high reliability and reusability requirements proposed for these engines, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards AFB has designed the High Heat Flux Facility (HHFF) using experience gained from past thermal stability test rig experiments. In order to design a facility capable of simulating the higher heat fluxes expected in the channels, CFD++, a Metacomp Technologies Inc. computational fluid dynamics software suite, was employed to optimize the design prior to manufacture. Conjugate heat transfer calculations were performed in a single computational domain containing the copper heater block and the fluid channel of the new test rig design. The parameters of interest during each experiment will be heat transfer coefficient, degree of coking and corrosion in the channel, and pressure drop as a function of heat flux, wall temperature, Reynolds number, channel material, fuel composition and pressure. AFRL's HHFF will be an important tool for facilitating the development and transition of new advanced hydrocarbon fuels.
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