Development status of LOX/LCH4 rocket engine

Taya, Kohei; Ishikawa, Yasuhiro; Kimoto, Kenichi; Ishizaki, Shinichiro

doi:10.2514/6.2014-3480

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The LOX/LCH4 rocket engine has been recognized as the ideal power choice for future space vehicles due to the merits of low cost, non-toxic and pollution-free, convenient maintenance, suitable for reuse and high specific impulse [1][2][3]. Due to high combustion temperatures and high heat flux from the hot gas to the wall of thrust chamber, the cooling efficiency is a major design consideration for the LOX/LCH4 rocket engine [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on Two-Phase Pressure Drop of Methane during Flow Boiling in Mini Channel

Song,

Li,

Sun

et al. 2023

DDF

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For LOX/LCH4 variable thrust rocket engine, the propellant methane is traditionally selected as the coolant in regenerative cooling channel (RCC). With the decrease of engine thrust, the mass flow rate of coolant methane decreases gradually. At low engine thrust, the coolant methane is usually in a subcritical state. The heat transfer deterioration of subcritical methane occurs in RCC, which may cause thrust chamber wall ablation. The two-phase pressure drop data of methane are crucial parameters for the design and optimization of RCC. But it is rarely to find such measured frictional pressure drop data of methane in open published literature. The two-phase pressure drop of methane during flow boiling in the single mini channels with the diameters of 2.0 mm are investigated systematically. Effects of the mass flux (582.19~1755.48 kg/m2·s), inlet pressure (0.56~3.55 MPa), heat flux (53.25~318.68 kW/m2) on the frictional pressure drop of methane are discussed. The results show that the frictional pressure drop of methane during flow boiling increases with mass flux and inlet pressure at the experimental conditions, and heat flux shows weak effect on the frictional pressure drop. The comparisons of the experimental data with the predicted value by existing six correlations are analyzed. Contrary to the conventional channels, homogeneous model yields better prediction than five separated flow models. Present experimental results can provide reference for the design and optimization of RCC in LOX/LCH4 rocket engine.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on Two-Phase Pressure Drop of Methane during Flow Boiling in Mini Channel

Song,

Li,

Sun

et al. 2023

DDF

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Numerical Investigation of Turbopump Bearing Heat Generation in Liquid Methane

Kakudo

Takada

Hirayama

2023

Journal of Tribology

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Liquid methane is one of the most promising candidates for the next-generation rocket propellant because it has an excellent balance between several propulsion performances such as specific impulse, storability, and structural coefficient. JAXA has developed rocket engine technologies for liquid methane engines. In this paper, we investigate heat generation characteristics of ball bearings used in liquid methane turbopumps. A usual approach to evaluate a cryogenic ball bearing performance is to conduct experimental testing which costs a lot. This research introduces numerical approaches based on physical mechanisms in rotating ball bearings to clarify the heat generation characteristics. The main factors of the heat generation are friction heat generation and fluid heat generation. The friction heat generation is caused by mechanical friction of bearing elements and calculated based on bearing motion analysis and Hertzian contact theory. The fluid heat generation is caused by the fluid drag force on bearing elements and calculated by CFD analysis. The theoretical model is compared with experimental results, showing an excellent agreement. It is clarified that the dominant factor of the bearing heat generation in liquid methane environment is the friction heat generation on races-balls contact at lower velocity condition while it tends to change to the fluid heat generation due to the bearing elements' rotational motion at higher velocity condition. In addition, cryogenic bearing characteristics which are clarified by theoretical modeling are discussed.

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