Engineering model for rocket exhaust plumes verified by CFD results

Abstract

An engineering model (EM) is under development that describes the propagation of a rocket exhaust plume after the nozzle exit. The aim of this EM is to allow a fast analysis of the structure of the plume and the exhaust species within the plume. The characteristics of the plume depend highly on the ambient conditions, which vary depending on the altitude. In particular, the ambient pressure plays a significant role. Therefore, the properties of the plume need to be investigated across multiple altitudes. CFD calculations have been performed for a few selected altitudes and several launchers. These results are used to verify the EM. As the CFD calculations for entire launchers are very time consuming to compute, the EM provides a quicker way to analyse the basic properties of the rocket plumes at a variety of altitudes