Trans. Japan Soc. Aero. Space Sci.

Vol. 52, No. 177, pp. 180–187, 2009

Comprehensive Design Method for LOX/Liquid-Methane Regenerative

Cooling Combustor with Coaxial Injector

By Nobuyuki Y ATSUYANAGI



Formerly, Kakuda Research Center, National Aerospace Laboratory, Kakuda, Japan

(Received December 8th, 2008)

A comprehensive design method for a LOX/Liquid-Methane (L-CH4 ) rocket engine combustor with a coaxial in-
jector and the preliminary design of the regenerative cooling combustor with 100-kN thrust in vacuum at a combustion
pressure of a 3.43 MPa are presented. Reasonable dimensions for the combustor that satisfy the targeted C
efficiency of
more than 98% and combustion stability are obtained.

Key Words: LOX/Liquid-Methane Rocket Engine, LOX/LNG Rocket Engine, Coaxial Injector, C
Efficiency,
Combustion Stability

Nomenclature n: nozzle section

o: oxygen
AðxÞ: surface area
cpL : specific heat of LOX 1. Introduction
C
: characteristic exhaust velocity
Dc : chamber diameter Japan is now developing the GX rocket for launch a sat-
DðxÞ: droplet diameter ellite mass of approximately 2 tons into a sun synchronous
D32 : Sauter mean diameter of LOX spray orbit at a height of 800 km. The first launch is scheduled
f : frequency after 2011. The engine of the second stage will be a newly
L
: characteristic chamber length developed LNG-fueled engine and development of an
M: molecular weight LOX/LNG engine is now progressing. The merits of using
N: number of injection elements LNG fuel is that the combustion of methane, the major com-
NuðxÞ: Nusselt number ponent of LNG, with oxygen delivers the highest specific
O=F: mixture ratio impulse among the hydrocarbon fuels and methane is much
Pc : combustion pressure cheaper than hydrogen. Therefore, a LOX/LNG engine has
Pcr : reference pressure (¼ 3:5 MPa) advantages next to a LOX/L-H2 engine. Worldwide, the
P0 ðtÞ: pressure perturbation Russian RD-190 LOX/L-CH4 engine is well known, and
PL : vapor pressure of LOX Korea is developing the CHASE LOX/LNG engine. In
Pr: Prandtl number Japan, NAL conducted fundamental research on the com-
R: universal gas constant bustion and cooling characteristics of the LOX/L-CH4 com-
T: temperature bustor in the 1990s and found they were similar to LOX/
t: time L-H2 combustion. In a regenerative cooling combustor
t
: period of oscillation using LNG, the injected LNG is gasified, so a coaxial injec-
V: velocity tor is used as in a LOX/L-H2 combustor. Therefore, when
w0 ðtÞ: mass release rate designing a LOX/LNG combustor, a similar design to that
x: axial direction for a LOX/L-H2 combustor can be used, although it is nec-

: latent heat of vaporization of LOX essary to clarify the design particularites for LOX/LNG
: increment combustor. Alaskan LNG is composed of 99.81 weight %
Subscript CH4 , 0.07 weight % C2 H6 and 0.12 weight % N2 , so the fol-
1T: first tangential mode lowing assumes pure CH4 when calculating combustion
b: breakup of LOX jet properties. The present study describes the LOX/L-CH4
c: combustion gas or cylindrical section engine as a representative LOX/LNG engine. Previous
f: fuel work,1,2) derived the optimum design for a L-H2 cooled
i: injection regenerative combustor for a LOX/L-H2 engine, and NAL
L: LOX has previously reported experimental studies on the com-
bustion and cooling characteristics of the LOX/L-CH4 com-
Ó 2009 The Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences bustor.3–5) This study develops a comprehensive design for a


Present address: 989–1603, Miyagi, Japan
Nov. 2009 N. Y ATSUYANAGI: Comprehensive Design Method for LOX/Liquid-Methane Regenerative Cooling Combustor
Table 1. Design conditions of LOX/L-CH4 combustor.
Unit Nominal condition
Thrust (Vacuum) kN 100
Combustion pressure MPa 3.43
Mixture ratio — 3.2
LOX mass flow rate kg/s 21.91
L-CH4 flow rate kg/s 6.85
LOX/L-CH4 regenerative cooling combustor with a
coaxial injector and a preliminary design for an engine with
100 kN of thrust in vacuum. These specifications were
selected to meet the needs of the GX rocket, so this study
will help in development and evaluation of that engine.
Table 1 shows the major specifications of the targeted
engine. In the assumed engine cycle, L-CH4 is injected
directly after being used as combustor coolant. Therefore,
the temperature of the injected methane depends on the heat
absorbed through the combustion chamber wall, and the
injection temperature greatly affects the combustion pro-
cesses. As the liquid/gas phase coaxial-type injector is also
used for the LOX/L-CH4 injector, the author’s optimized
design for the LOX/L-H2 regenerative combustor2) is fun-
damentally applicable, although the characteristic constant
of the burning rate and that of the thermal conductivity
should replace those for the LOX/L-H2 combustion to cal-
culate the combustion processes and the heat load. These
characteristic constants are derived from NAL experiments
on LOX/L-CH4 combustion.3,4)
2. Calculation and Evaluation of Combustion Perform-
ance and Combustion Stability
2.1. Method for calculating combustion performance
The method of calculating combustion performance is
basically similar to that used for LOX/L-H2 combustion
in the author’s former study,2) except for the characteristics
of LOX/L-CH4 combustion. So here, the discussion focuses
on introduction of characteristic factors controlling combus-
tion performance and heat load to the combustion chamber.
These factors are the burning rate constant of the LOX spray
with methane and the thermal conductivity of the LOX/
L-CH4 combustion gas. The calculation scheme is com-
posed of the atomization process for the LOX jet and the
combustion process for the LOX spray with methane gas.
To evaluate the atomization process of the LOX jet with
gasified methane, the author’s atomization model1) is used.
This model can calculate the local atomization rate of the
LOX jet and the size histogram of formed droplets in the
LOX spray, giving the initial combustion conditions. The
reaction rate of the propellants is controlled by the burning
rate of vaporized oxygen with methane gas. Equation (1)
expresses the relation for a single droplet of LOX, and then
integrates it over the whole LOX spray to obtain the reacted
mass of the oxygen along the axial position of x:
DðxÞ2 =t ¼ Kb NuðxÞ=2; ð1Þ
181
where, Kb is the burning rate of a LOX droplet with gaseous
methane. The numerical value of Kb was derived from the
author’s previous experiment using a combustor with a
single element injector.3) The value of Kb ¼ 0:38  105
(m2 /s) used in Eq. (1) corresponds to the condition of
Pc ¼ 3:43 MPa and O/F ¼ 3:2, while the value of Kb for
the LOX/L-H2 combustion was 1:1  105 (m2 /s). Assum-
ing that a chemical equilibrium reaction occurs between
these oxygen and injected methane at the given mixture
ratio, the mass of the reacted propellants is calculated in
the axial direction. Thus, the combustion gas is composed
of reacted propellants, unreacted methane gas, and residual
LOX spray. The thermal conductivity of the LOX/L-CH4
combustion gas is explained below. To evaluate the local
heat transfer coefficient, hg ðxÞ, shown by Eq. (2), a basic
equation for forced convection in a cylinder is used as in
the previous study:2)
hg ðxÞ ¼ 0:023kt ReðxÞ0:8 Pr 0:4 =Dc ðxÞ; ð2Þ
where, kt the thermal conductivity of the LOX/L-CH4 com-
bustion gas is 0.15 W/(mK). Because the relation deduced
by the NAL experiments4) was kt =kt ðO2 =H2 Þ ¼ 0:43, where
the thermal conductivity for LOX/H2 combustion,
kt ðO2 =H2 Þ was 0.35 W/(mK). Then local heat flux, qðxÞ,
and total heat load to the combustor, Qt , are calculated.
The injection temperature of the methane, Tf,i , is calculated
from Qt , although Tf,i and Qt affect each other through the
combustion processes. The calculation of combustion per-
formance and heat load is conducted following the proce-
dure shown in Fig. 1, based on the author’s previous study.2)
2.2. Verification of calculation of combustion per-
formance
To verify the validity of the present method for calculat-
ing combustion performance and heat load, the results were
assessed by comparison with experiments on the CHASE
engine.6,7) Table 2 lists the major specifications of the
CHASE engine. The dimensions of the injector element
are not available, so rational assumptions were made. The
burning rate constant, Kb ¼ 1:0  105 (m2 /s) was used
based on experimental data by NAL3) under combustion
conditions of Pc ¼ 7:2 MPa and O/F ¼ 3:0. In Fig. 2, the
calculated C
efficiencies vs. the injection temperature of
LNG are shown for comparison with experiments. Although
the experimental data are somewhat scattered, the tendency
of the calculation agrees with them. Figure 3 shows the heat
flux distribution along the axial direction of the chamber
wall. Although there are some underestimations near the
injector face, the calculation tendency is generally satisfac-
tory. Reasonable agreement between the calculations and
the experiments suggest that the present calculation method
is sufficiently accurate to be used for the LOX/L-CH4 case.
2.3. Method of evaluating combustion stability
Here, the methods of evaluating low and high frequency
combustion instability are briefly introduced. For low fre-
quency combustion instability, as in the previous study,2)
the analytical model derived by Szuch8) was used. This
model is based on the fact that in a system with time delays
182 Trans. Japan Soc. Aero. Space Sci. Vol. 52, No. 177

Fig. 1. Schematic of optimizing design procedure for LOX/L-CH4 combustor.

Fig. 3. Comparison of heat flux distribution of CHASE engine between

Fig. 2. Comparison of C
efficiency of CHASE engine between calcula-
calculation and experiment.
tion and experiment.
Nov. 2009 N. Y ATSUYANAGI: Comprehensive Design Method for LOX/Liquid-Methane Regenerative Cooling Combustor 183

Table 2. Specifications and tested range of reference engines.

CHASE Engine6;7Þ# NAL Study4Þ NASA Study11Þ NASA Study10Þ

##
Propellants LOX/LNG LOX/CH4 FLOX/CH###
4 LOX/L-H2
Thrust F (kN) 98 6 13 89
Combustion pressure Pc (MPa) 7.2 3.1–5.2 2.4–3.4 2.1–2.7
Mixture ratio (—) 3.0 2.2–5.0 4.8–6.5 3.8–6.0
Chamber diameter Dc (m) 0.176 0.066 0.10 0.273
Throat diameter Dt (m) 0.101 0.023 0.058 0.198
Total chamber length Lt (m) 0.342 0.200 0.356 0.323
Cylindrical section length Lc (m) 0.195 0.085 — —
Convergence section length Ln (m) 0.147 0.115 — —
Number of injection elements N (—) 91 18 43 421
Injection orifice diameter do (mm) 4.5 2.25 2.8 1.32
dn (mm) 5.5 3.25 3.7 4.37
df (mm) 6.5 4.20 4.6 6.28
Lrec (mm) 4.5 2.25 0–2.8 0
Injection temperature To,i (K) 90 90 85 101
Tf,i (K) 162–315 278–298 294 61–195
Injection velocity Vo,i (m/s) 10.8–15.5 14.1–22.5 6.1–10.4 33.3–41.9
Vf,i (m/s) 121–201 100–385 88–107 90.3–94.6
#
Injection orifice diameters are assumed. ## Purity of CH4 is 89.3% to 99.0% by weight.
###
FLOX (82.6% F2 and 17.4% LOX by weight).

associated with combustion processes, low frequency com-
bustion instability is caused by a coupling of the propellant
feed system with the combustion dynamics in such a way as
to reinforce any disturbance in pressure or propellant flow.
The essential factors of the Szuch stability analysis are the
combustion time delays of the LOX side, to , and those of
the fuel side, tf . In this study, to is considered to be the
sum of the time necessary for breakup of the LOX jet, ta ,
and the time needed for completion of combustion of the
representative droplet of the LOX spray, D32 , with methane,
tc . The value of tf is assumed that only the gas-phase mixing
delay time, tmix , is responsible for the combustion time lag.
These are represented as follows:
to ¼ ta þ tc
tf ¼ tmix ;
where, ta and tc are calculated using the present calculation
model for combustion. The value of tmix is deduced from the
assumption8) that tmix is proportional to tr  ta , and is given
as a constant value of 0.2 ms, where tr (¼ Mc L
C
=RTc Þ is
the residence time of combustion gas in the chamber. These
time delays are then substituted into the transfer function of
the stability equation of the original model, and the combus-
tion stability is evaluated by the Gain and the phase margin
of the transfer function. If the Gain is negative over the
target frequency, stable combustion is assured. For high
frequency combustion instability, the tangential mode of
acoustic instability is frequently encountered and is difficult
to eliminate when developing hydrocarbon-fueled engines.
Heidmann’s stability criterion9) for the first tangential mode
of instability is used to assess acoustic instability. The
model is based on Rayleigh’s criterion that reinforcement
ð3Þ or amplification occurs when an excess of heat or mass is
added while the pressure is greater than the mean value.
ð4Þ The response factor, which is a measure of the magnitude
by which the combustion process can reinforce acoustic
oscillation, was defined as follows:

"Z 1
Z #,"Z 1
Z #
2t t
2t t

0 0 0 0
NR ¼ w ðtÞdt  w ðtÞdt p ðtÞdt  p ðtÞdt ð5Þ
1
1

0 2t 0 2t

Using linear analysis, the response factor is re-written following the transfer function as:

1=2 n
2
o1=2
NR ¼ ts != 1 þ ð2ts !Þ2 1 þ ð1  2ÞðcpL TL =
bÞts ! = 1 þ ðcpL TL =
bÞ2 ðts !Þ2 cos  ð6Þ

where,  ¼=2 tan1 2ts !þ tan1 ð12ÞðcpL TL =
bÞts ! pressure, so there is potential damping of acoustic oscillation.
tan1 ðcpL TL =
bÞts !, ! ¼ 2 f ,  and b are constants related While, the positive value of NR indicates that heat is added at a
to Pc , PL and TL . The negative value of NR indicates that pressure above the mean pressure, so there is potential driving
excess heat is added when the pressure is less than the mean of acoustic oscillation. In the original study, the combustion
184 Trans. Japan Soc. Aero. Space Sci. Vol. 52, No. 177

Fig. 4. Schematic of injector element configuration.

sensitive time, ts , in the transfer function was defined as

the time needed to vaporize 50% of LOX spray mass, t50 .
However, it was found that adoption of this t50 as ts meant that
the experimental phenomena10) could not be duplicated,
whereas, t20 , the time to react 20% of the injected LOX, was
found to be suitable to well duplicate the tendency of the
Fig. 5. Schematic of L-Methane regenerative cooling combustor.
experiments. Therefore in the present study, ts ¼ t20 is used
as the combustion sensitive time, and t20 is calculated by the
present calculation method. This evaluation was used to assess
the high frequency combustion stability.

3. Comprehensive Design of Regenerative Cooling

Combustor for LOX/L-CH4

The design procedures for a regenerative cooling com-

bustor for LOX/L-CH4 are the same as those derived for
the former LOX/L-H2 case2) as shown in Fig. 1. The candi-
date injector element and major dimensions of the combus-
tion chamber are selected based on the empirical correlation
for the C
efficiency. Then detailed calculation and evalua-
tion of the combustion performance and combustion stabil-
ity are performed. These steps are introduced briefly below.
The schematics of the injection element and regenera-
tive cooling combustor are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5,
respectively.
3.1. Selection of candidate’ injector element and
combustion chamber by empirical correlation
The non-dimensional equivalent chamber length, L
c ,
which was introduced in the previous study2) for LOX/
L-H2 combustion with the coaxial injector, is used to select
the dimensions of the candidate injector element and to
define the major dimensions of the combustion chamber,
L
c being given by Eq. (7).
pffiffiffiffi
L
c ¼ ðLt þ 0:4VR ðPc =Pcr Þ0:5 Þ=ðDc = N Þ ð7Þ
In Fig. 6, the experimental data4,11) of the C
efficiencies for
LOX(or FLOX)/CH4 are correlated with L
c . Although the
data points are somewhat scattered, they are correlated by
the empirical equation introduced for LOX/L-H2 combus-
tion, and have a lower value of 0.5% (0:005) than for
LOX/L-H2 , showing that it is necessary to give greater
values of L
c than 25 to obtain a C
efficiency greater than
98% for LOX/CH4 . Here, we assume that the diameter of
the combustion chamberpisffiffiffiffi 24 cm and the equivalent cham-
ber diameter ðDe ¼ Dc = N Þ is temporarily 1.7 cm, the same
dimension as the LE-5 chamber. Then the total chamber
Fig. 6. Correlation of C
efficiency with non-dimensional equivalent
chamber length.
length Lt , and the injection velocity ratio ðVR ¼ Vf,i =Vo,i Þ
should satisfy the following relation:
L
c ¼ ðLt þ 0:4VR ð3:43=3:5Þ0:5 Þ=1:7  25 ð8Þ
The dimensions of the injection element and combustion
chamber that satisfy Eq. (8) are determined, considering
the following conditions. The diameter of the LOX orifice
is 2.4–3.0 mm, similar to that of the LE-5 engine. The injec-
tion velocity of the LOX is 15–18 m/s, similar to that of the
LE-5 engine. The methane injection velocity is assumed to
be one that satisfies the injection velocity ratio of VR  10
and hereafter, VR ¼ 10 is assumed. Substituting these values
into Eq. (8), the total combustion chamber length, Lt , should
be Lt  40 cm. This length is about 10 cm longer than that of
the LE-5 and on the same order the LE-5B. According to the
above-mentioned conditions and referring to the dimensions
of the LE-5 and the LE-5B engines, four injectors and two
chamber lengths were selected as possible candidates. These
candidates are tabulated in Table 3.
3.2. Evaluation of combustion performance
Detailed calculations on the combustion performance and
heat load characteristics were performed for the four candi-
Nov. 2009 N. Y ATSUYANAGI: Comprehensive Design Method for LOX/Liquid-Methane Regenerative Cooling Combustor 185

Table 3. Dimensions of combustion chamber and injector of candidate combustors.

(unit) Injector A Injector B Injector C Injector D

Chamber diameter Dc (m) 0.24 ! ! !
Throat diameter Dt (m) 0.138 ! ! !
Nozzle exit diameter
Dne (m) 0.444 ! ! !
Total chamber length Lt (m) 0.409 0.469 0.409 0.469 0.409 0.469 0.409
Cylindrical section length Lc (m) 0.207 ! 0.207 ! 0.207 ! 0.207
Convergence section length Ln (m) 0.202 0.262 0.202 0.262 0.202 0.262 0.202
Number of injection elements (—) 223 206 203 203
Dimension of injection element do (mm) 2.6 2.7 2.8 3.0
dn (mm) 3.6 3.7 3.8 4.0
df (mm) 4.6 4.7 4.6 4.8


Exit diameter of regenerative cooled nozzle.

Table 4. Calculation conditions and calculated results.

CASE-A CASE-B CASE-C CASE-D

Injector Injector A Injector B Injector C Injector D
Total chamber length Lt (m) 0.409 0.469# 0.409 0.469# 0.409 0.469# 0.409
Combustion pressure Pc (MPa) 3.43 ! ! ! ! ! !
Injection pressure Po,i (MPa) 4.45 4.44 4.46 4.46 4.35 4.34 4.11
Pf,i (MPa) 3.88 3.87 3.93 3.93 4.29 4.26 4.17
Interface pressure Po,t (MPa) 4.90 4.88 4.91 4.91 4.79 4.78 4.55
Pf,t (MPa) 3.95 3.93 4.00 3.99 4.36 4.33 4.24
Heat absorbed by coolant Qt (MW) 2.96 2.88 2.97 2.89 3.26 3.18 3.08
Fuel injection temperature Tf,i (K) 254 249 255 250 271 264 261
Injection velocity Vo,i (m/s) 16.0 15.9 16.0 16.1 15.1 15.1 13.1
Vf,i (m/s) 179 176 190 187 256 250 234
LOX Sauter mean diameter D32 (m) 164 165 166 167 143 145 150
C
efficiency loss by film cooling (—) nfc 0.004 nfc 0.004 nfc 0.004 nfc
C
efficiency assessment

Ccal

=Cth 0.981 0.980 0.982 0.982 0.988 0.984 0.985
LOX atomization time delay ta (ms) 0.76 0.76 0.75 0.78 0.90 0.79 1.87
LOX combustion time delay tc (ms) 4.49 4.85 4.42 4.77 3.48 3.75 4.33
Total time delay for LOX side to (ms) 5.26 5.61 5.18 5.55 4.38 4.54 6.21
Total time delay for fuel side tf (ms) 0.2 ! ! ! ! ! !
Frequency## f (Hz) 62 60 63 59 66 64 240 365
Gain (maximum value) 20 Log jGj 4.9 5.0 4.4 4.5 2.2 2.3 3.2 2.7
Phase margin (deg) 6 9 8 9 12 14 11 40
Low frequency stability assessment Stable Stable Stable Stable Marginal Marginal Unstable
Combustion sensitive time ts (ms) 0.97 0.97 0.92 0.91 1.07 1.05 1.71
Response factor### NR 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.8 2.2 2.1 3.0
High frequency stability assessment Stable Stable Stable Stable Stable Stable Stable
#
Film cooling with 5% to fuel injection rate. nfc: No film cooling.
##
Frequency giving maximum Gain.
###
Response factor at f ¼ f1T (¼ 3075 Hz, frequency of 1st tangential mode).

date injectors, A, B, C and D, with two different chamber
length using the presented calculation model where the
chamber length of 0.409 m is 0.1 m longer than the LE-5,
and Lt ¼ 0:469 m is 0.06 m longer than the nozzle section
addition to the 0.1 m longer cylindrical length. In the
calculation for Injector D, low frequency instability was
predicted with a shorter chamber, so in this case, a longer
chamber length was omitted in further evaluations. The
calculated C
efficiencies are tabulated in Table 4. For the
cases with shorter chamber length, Lt ¼ 0:409 m, there
was no film cooling, whereas for the cases with the longer
chamber length, Lt ¼ 0:469 m, 5% of the total injected
methane was for film cooling. The calculated results showed
that in both case, the C
efficiencies exceeded 0.98 (98%),
while Injectors C and D showed higher C
efficiencies than
Injectors A and B. However, both cases showed marginal
186 Trans. Japan Soc. Aero. Space Sci.
Fig. 7. Calculated histogram of LOX droplet size distribution at x ¼ Lb .
Fig. 8. Calculated heat flux distribution of Injector-B.
Fig. 9. Gain of transfer function for each injector.
stable and unstable combustion at low frequencies as dis-
cussed later. Injectors C and D showed higher C
efficien-
cies because in both cases the mean diameters of the LOX
spray, D32 , were 10–16% smaller than in the other cases.
The calculated histograms for the LOX droplet size distribu-
tion are shown in Fig. 7. Figure 8 shows typical calculated
results for the heat flux distribution along the axial direction
of the combustion chamber. The coolant paths form a coun-
ter-flow as shown in Fig. 5. The total heat absorbed by the
methane, Qt , is obtained by summing qðxÞAðxÞ from the
Vol. 52, No. 177
Fig. 10. Phase margin of transfer function for each injector.
Fig. 11. Combustion stability map for 1st tangential acoustic mode of
oscillation.
inlet to the outlet of the coolant paths. The inlet position
is assumed to be where the nozzle expansion ratio is 10.3.
The calculated results for Qt are tabulated in Table 4. As
the total absorbed heat was calculated, the increment in
the methane temperature, Tf,i , throughout the cooling path
is calculated when the specific heat of methane is given.
Here, the arithmetic mean specific heat corresponding to
the values at the inlet and the outlet are used. The injection
temperature of the methane was then calculated as Tf,i ¼
112 þ Tf,i , where 112 K is the temperature at the inlet.
For the candidate injectors, Tf,i was 137 to160 K, and
the calculated Tf,i values are tabulated in Table 4.
3.3. Evaluation of combustion stability
First, the low frequency combustion instability is evalu-
ated. To calculate the transfer function of Szuch’s equa-
tion,8) the impedances and the pressure drops of the injector
were calculated, assuming the geometry of the analogues to
be that of the LE-5 injector. The calculated injection pres-
sures and interface pressures together with the delay times
are tabulated in Table 4. In Fig. 9, the Gains of the transfer
function vs. frequency are shown for each shorter chamber
length, Lt ¼ 0:409 m, and Fig. 10 shows the phase margins.
From these figures, it can be seen that Injectors C and D
show marginal stable and unstable combustion, respec-
Nov. 2009 N. Y ATSUYANAGI: Comprehensive Design Method for LOX/Liquid-Methane Regenerative Cooling Combustor
tively. The results of the assessment for low frequency com-
bustion stability for the candidates are tabulated in Table 4.
For high frequency combustion instability, four candidates
injectors were evaluated using ts ¼ t20 . The results are
shown in Fig. 11 together with experimental data for
NASA10) and for the CHASE6) engine. The abscissa is the
ratio of the combustion sensitive time, ts ¼ t20 , to the period
of the oscillation, t
¼ 1= f1T , where f1T is the frequency of
the first tangential mode of acoustic oscillation and is
3075 Hz for the present combustion condition and f1T ¼
3575 Hz and 4290 Hz for the NASA engine and CHASE
engine, respectively. For all candidates, NR < 0 was
obtained. Therefore, these four candidate injectors are stable
for the first mode of tangential acoustic instability. These
values are tabulated together with the results of the assess-
ments for high frequency combustion stability in Table 4.
4. Conclusion
A comprehensive design method for a LOX/L-CH4
rocket engine combustor with a coaxial injector is proposed,
and preliminary design for the regenerative cooling combus-
tor with 100-kN thrust in vacuum at a combustion pressure
of 3.43 MPa was performed. The results show that at reason-
able combustor dimensions, the target combustion perform-
ance and combustion stability are obtained. The dimensions
are a LOX injection orifice diameter of 2.6–2.7 mm, a LOX
post diameter of 3.6–3.7 mm, a methane injection orifice
diameter of 4.6–4.7 mm, and 223–206 injection elements.
The dimensions of the combustion chamber are a chamber
diameter of 0.24 m with a throat diameter of 0.138 m, and
a total chamber length of 0.409–0.469 m. At these configu-
rations, the total absorbed heat is approximately 3 MW, and
a methane injection temperature of 249–255 K and C
effi-
ciency of 98.0–98.2% with 5% film cooling are obtained.
CASEs A and B seem most promising for achieving the
target C
efficiency and combustion stability.
187
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Mr. Kazuo Sato, a senior researcher
at the Kakuda Space Center of JAXA, for his support in calculating
the theoretical thermo-chemical properties of LOX/L-CH4 com-
bustion.
References
1) Yatsuyanagi, N.: Study on the Design Criteria of the Coaxial Injector
for a LOX/Hydrogen Rocket Engine, Evaluation of Design for Injec-
tors of the LE-5 Engine and Its Derivatives, T. Jpn. Soc. Aeronaut
Space Sci., 50 (2007), pp. 201–208.
2) Yatsuyanagi, N.: Establishment of Design Method for Liquid
Hydrogen Regenerative Cooling Combustor of LOX/Hydrogen
Rocket Engine, T. Jpn. Soc. Aeronaut Space Sci., 51 (2009),
pp. 259–266.
3) Yatsuyanagi, N., Sakamoto, H. and Sato, K.: Experimental Study on
Vaporization Rate of LOX-Spray with Methane and Hydrogen in
Rocket Combustor, Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium
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