Proposed Flight Research of a Dual-Bell Rocket Nozzle Using the NASA F-15 Airplane

Jones, Daniel S.; Bui, Trong T.; Ruf, Joseph H.

doi:10.2514/6.2013-3954

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…The F-15/PFTF flight envelope is a subset of an F-15 flight envelope. 1 Three different altitude conditions are noted within Fig. 19, with the Mach number range of interest also indicated.…”

Section: G Dual-bell Nozzle Sizing Tradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A survey of the external flow field is crucial to a greater understanding of the nozzle plume transitional behavior and must be understood prior to flights which include nozzle operation. This section will provide details on three main topics related to the Phase I flight-research campaign: (1) previous flight experiments that have been conducted with the F-15/PFTF; (2) the conceptual design for the dual-bell nozzle external flow-field flights; and (3) the initial results from the external flow-field predictions.…”

Section: Conceptual Design For the External Flow-field Flights (Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The limitations and accuracy of the force balance have previously been documented. 1 For Phase I flights, the force balance will measure aerodynamic and inertial forces on the RFS, whereas the Phase II and Phase III flights will utilize the force balance to also measure dual-bell nozzle thrust forces in flight.…”

Section: B External Flow-field Conceptual Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rationale for conducting each of the three phases of the flight-research campaign has been documented, as well as the rationale for conducting dual-bell rocket nozzle research through captive-carried flight. 1 The conceptual design presented within this paper covers Phase I and Phase II of the flight-research campaign. The conceptual design for Phase III of the flight-research campaign will be detailed in a future publication.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conceptual Design for a Dual-Bell Rocket Nozzle System Using a NASA F-15 Airplane as the Flight Testbed

Jones¹,

Ruf²,

Bui³

et al. 2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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The dual-bell rocket nozzle was first proposed in 1949, offering a potential improvement in rocket nozzle performance over the conventional-bell nozzle. Despite the performance advantages that have been predicted, both analytically and through static test data, the dual-bell nozzle has still not been adequately tested in a relevant flight environment. In 2013 a proposal was constructed that offered a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) F-15 airplane as the flight testbed, with the plan to operate a dual-bell rocket nozzle during captive-carried flight. If implemented, this capability will permit nozzle operation into an external flow field similar to that of a launch vehicle, and facilitate an improved understanding of dual-bell nozzle plume sensitivity to external flow-field effects. More importantly, this flight testbed can be utilized to help quantify the performance benefit with the dual-bell nozzle, as well as to advance its technology readiness level. Toward this ultimate goal, this paper provides plans for future flights to quantify the external flow field of the airplane near the nozzle experiment, as well as details on the conceptual design for the dual-bell nozzle cold-flow propellant feed system integration within the NASA F-15 Propulsion Flight Test Fixture. The current study shows that this concept of flight research is feasible, and could result in valuable flight data for the dual-bell nozzle. NomenclatureACN = altitude-compensating nozzle AFRC = Armstrong Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) AoA = angle of attack CB = conventional-bell CCIE = Channeled Centerbody Inlet Experiment CDE = Cone Drag Experiment CFD = computational fluid dynamics COPV = composite overwrapped pressure vessel DOF = degrees-of-freedom GN 2 = gaseous nitrogen I sp = specific impulse LEO = low-Earth orbit LMI = Local Mach Investigation MEOP = maximum expected operating pressure MSFC = Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, Alabama) 2 NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration NNPR = normalized nozzle pressure ratio NPR = nozzle pressure ratio (P c /P amb ) NTF = Nozzle Test Facility OML = outer mold line P amb = ambient pressure P c = nozzle chamber pressure PFTF = Propulsion Flight Test Fixture PRA = pressure reducing assembly RAGE = Rake Airflow Gage Experiment RFS = rocket forebody simulator SSME = Space Shuttle Main Engine STS = Space Transportation System TRL = technology readiness level

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Section: G Dual-bell Nozzle Sizing Tradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual Design For the External Flow-field Flights (Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B External Flow-field Conceptual Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Conceptual Design for a Dual-Bell Rocket Nozzle System Using a NASA F-15 Airplane as the Flight Testbed

Jones¹,

Ruf²,

Bui³

et al. 2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

Self Cite

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“…Figure 3: Over-expanded (left), ideal (center), and under-expanded flows (right) for a convergent -divergent bell nozzle, from sea-level to high-altitude [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Trends For Aerospikes & Supersonic Nozzles With Center-Bodies

El-Dahr¹

2021

Preprint

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The aim of this report is to examine performance trends for Aerospikes and Supersonic nozzles with center – bodies. The initial case that was tested is a convergent – divergent conical nozzle with a geometry and inlet flow conditions obtained from a NASA technical note. The technical note mentions that air was used as the working fluid for the nozzle. This case served as the base case for comparison with the performance of later nozzle designs. Nozzle flow for all the cases that were tested was simulated using ANSYS Fluent, for ambient conditions at 20km standard atmosphere. The convergent – divergent conical nozzle has the following calculated performance parameters using results from ANSYS Fluent: mass flow rate of 9.660 kg/s, axial Thrust of 10,583.5 N, and a specific impulse of 111.7s. All of the Supersonic nozzles with center – bodies have calculated specific impulse values lower than 111.7s by 0.4 – 1.6s, for approximately the same calculated mass flow rates as the base case. Adding a center – body to the original conical nozzle, was simply detrimental to performance. With regards to the Aerospike nozzles, 18 of them were tested. Aerospike 18 has the highest calculated specific impulse, at 115.3s for a calculated mass flow rate of 9.671kg/s. Aerospike 13 came in second at 114.6s, for a calculated mass flow rate of 9.676 kg/s. Several of the Aerospike designs did not out-perform the base case in terms of specific impulse. For those Aerospikes, the convergent – divergent section had a significantly lower thrust than the base case and the center – body was not able to over-compensate for the lower thrust. This report also looks at trends in thrust contribution by the convergent – divergent sections and center – bodies of Aerospikes at different nozzle geometries. The working fluid for all the cases tested in ANSYS Fluent including the base case, is air at a ratio of specific heats equal to 1.4.

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Computational Study on Flow Characteristics of Dual Bell Nozzle with Varying Altitude Effect

Patil,

Mankar,

Mishra

2024

Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering

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Proposed Flight Research of a Dual-Bell Rocket Nozzle Using the NASA F-15 Airplane

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Conceptual Design for a Dual-Bell Rocket Nozzle System Using a NASA F-15 Airplane as the Flight Testbed

Conceptual Design for a Dual-Bell Rocket Nozzle System Using a NASA F-15 Airplane as the Flight Testbed

Performance Trends For Aerospikes & Supersonic Nozzles With Center-Bodies

Computational Study on Flow Characteristics of Dual Bell Nozzle with Varying Altitude Effect

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