Computational Solution of the Inverse Heat Conduction Problem of Rocket Combustion Chambers

Abstract

A method enabling the calculation of transient rocket combustion chamber hot gas - and coolant side heat transfer based on the temperature measurement by thermocouples, positioned within the combustion chamber wall, is described. The applied novel computational concept specifies the boundary conditions of the combustion chamber inverse heat conduction problem. Therefore, a finite element discretization of the energy balance equation of the combustor, a finite difference discretization of the related semidiscrete equation of transient heat conduction in the time domain and a conjugate direction optimization method are used. The uniqueness of the solution, the error sensitivity and the performance of the proposed parameter identification method will be investigated by an analysis of the stead state as well as transient heat transfer of DLR's model combustor B, a high pressure H2/O2 model rocket engine operated at the test facility P8 in Lampoldshausen, Germany.