Hot-Fire Testing of Liquid Oxygen/Hydrogen Single Coaxial Injector at High-Pressure Conditions with Optical Diagnostics

Abstract

Injector behavior is of utmost importance for the performance and stability of liquid rocket engines (LREs). A major problem is getting a highly efficient homogeneous mixture and effective chemical reaction of fuels at minimum chamber length. Despite substantial progress in numerical simulations, a need for experimental data at representative conditions for development and validation of numerical design tools still exists. Therefore, in the framework of the DLR-project “ProTau,” the authors have performed tests to create an extended data base for numerical tool validation for high-pressure liquid oxygen (LOx) / hydrogen combustion. During the experimental investigations, a windowed DLR subscale thrust chamber model “C” (designated BKC) has been operated over a broad range of conditions at reduced pressures of approximately 0.8 (4 MPa), 1 (5 MPa), and 1.2 (6 MPa) with respect to the thermodynamic critical pressure of oxygen. Liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen (GH2) have been injected through a single coaxial injector element at temperatures of ~ 120 and ~ 130 K, respectively. High-speed optical diagnostics have been implemented, including imaging of OH* emission and shadowgraph imaging at frequencies from 8 up to 10 kHz to visualize the flow field.