Experimental Investigation and CFD-Simulation of the Film Cooling in an O2/CH4 subscale Combustion Chamber

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the experimental investigation as well as the numerical analysis of the film cooling performance in an O2/CH4 subscale combustion chamber. The presented investigation provides detailed information about the cooling film efficiency and thermal load distribution on the hot inner surfaces of the combustion chamber at real rocket engine conditions and pressures up to 1.2 MPa. The investigation focuses on the interaction of the reacting flow with film cooling in the cylindrical part of the combustion chamber near the injector head (up to 250 mm). Due to the extremely complicated flow phenomena in this area, for example extreme variation of flow properties and steep temperature gradients, in combination with intensive chemical reactions, the problem is partially simplified injecting gaseous oxygen and methane. These investigations aim to provide a significant contribution to the understanding of the thermal transfer processes and to validation of design tools.