Design of a GH2/GOX Combustion Chamber for the Hot Plume Interaction Experiments at DLR Cologne

Abstract

Flight tests have shown that the conditions in the base regions of space transportation systems are neither correctly predicted by CFD nor by experiments with cold exhaust jets. Experiments with a more realistic exhaust plume to study the temperature effects are required. In this study, a wind tunnel model concept is presented for representative plume interaction experiments in the Vertical Test Section Cologne (VMK) and the Transonic Test Section Cologne (TMK). For this wind tunnel model, two combustion chambers are discussed. A thermal analysis is conducted for a PennState-like combustion chamber segment with a mixture ratio of 6.0 to evaluate the operating time in VMK. In order to cope with the conditions in TMK, the design of a second combustion chamber is designed to operate at a hydrogen-rich mixture ratio of 0.7. This involves the design and comparison of the inlet, stability and combustion chamber conditions for three different injector geometries. The study concludes with a proposition of materials for the combustion chamber.