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Design and Cold Flow Experiment Procedure of a Pintle Injector

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 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum 10.2514/6.2019-4117
19-22 August 2019, Indianapolis, IN
AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2019 Forum

Design and Cold Flow Experiment Procedure of a Pintle

Injector

Berksu ERKAL1
The Scientific & Technical Research Council of Turkey – Defence Industries Research & Development Institute
TUBITAK-SAGE, P.K 16 Mamak, 06261 Ankara, Turkey

Bülent SÜMER2
The Scientific & Technical Research Council of Turkey – Defence Industries Research & Development Institute
TUBITAK-SAGE, P.K 16 Mamak, 06261 Ankara, Turkey

Mehmet Haluk AKSEL3

Middle East Technical University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ankara, 06800, Turkey
Downloaded by TUBITAK SAGE on September 3, 2019 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2019-4117

Injector, main component of the liquid rocket engine, has major roles on liquid rocket
engine’s mission. Pintle injector has two major effect on the engine performance. First, a pintle
injector is able to cover entire chamber instead of having a heavier injector plate like other
types of injector. This makes pintle injector cheaper to manufacture and launch. Secondly, it
has ability to throttle with area control at injection gaps. In this study, a design methodology
is developed for a pintle injector. Following the methodology, a 750N pintle injector is designed
and three different inner geometries are tried to have uniform flow for spray cone formation.
Lastly, the injector is manufactured and cold flow test with air and water is conducted to
validate the cone angle found by analysis. Moreover, the manufactured injector is investigated
at different throttle levels and cone angles are measured with high-speed shadowgraph system
and Sauter mean diameter is measured by PDPA system.

Nomenclature
𝐷𝑝 = pintle support thickness
𝐷𝑡 = pintle tip diameter
𝐴𝑡 = throat area
𝐿𝑎𝑜𝑑 = actual opening distance
𝐿𝑡𝑜𝑑 = tracing opening distance
𝑡𝑎𝑔 = thickness of annular gap
𝑡𝑝𝑔 = pintle gap thickness
α = pintle angle
θ = shadow angle
TMR = total momentum ratio
LOX = liquid oxygen
GCH4 = gaseous methane
C* = characteristic velocity
LRE = liquid rocket engine
I𝑠𝑝 = specific impulse
T = thrust
𝑚̇ = mass flow rate
𝑃𝑐 = chamber pressure

1
Research Engineer, Propulsion Systems Division, berksu.erkal@tubitak.gov.tr.
2
Research Engineer, Propulsion Systems Division, berksu.erkal@tubitak.gov.tr.
3
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, aksel@metu.edu.tr.

Copyright © 2019 by Berksu ERKAL. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.
 I. Introduction
Pintle injector is a variable area injector which controls one or two propellant’s injection area giving throttling
A ability to a bipropellant liquid rocket engine (LRE). Early applications started with primitive geometries at TRW
and by gained experience Apollo Lunar Module Descent Engine had a pintle injector controlling both propellants’
injection area [1]. Moreover, Dressler states that more than 60 different pintle engine designs completed hot fire tests
ranging from 5 lbf to 65000 lbf thrust engines and no combustion instability is recorded. Designing and manufacturing
a LRE is money and time consuming. Cost of the space missions is a major problem for governments and companies,
a geostationary launch may cost up to 55000$/kg and this leads space industry to change something major like ‘re-
branding’ pintle injector [2]. In contrast to the other types of injectors, pintle injector is easy to manufacture and design
and this simplicity makes it valuable among others to work on.
Recent studies about pintle injectors are commonly based on cold flow tests. Bedard has designed a throattable LOX-
LCH4 thrust chamber and performed both cold and hot flow tests for the chamber [3]. The design had hole type pintle
injector and they stated that reservoir for the fluid effects the uniformity of the flow. Son et al. studied a moveable
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pintle design and they stated the geometrical parameters effecting spray characteristics [4]. They also conducted a
numerical study about the center-controlled injector to investigate combustion characteristics [5]. Cheng et al. derived
a theoretical correlation to predict spray cone angle and validated his correlation with numerical and experimental
work [6]. Sakaki et al. introduced a hot wire test for ethanol/LOX combustion in a rectangular combustor and they
stated that C* efficiency is highly effected when oxidizer is fed from center [7].
In this study, reservoir geometry effects and fuel and oxidizer geometrical parameters are investigated. PDPA and
shadowgraph test results are introduced to gain experience from another perspective.

II. Design Methodology

There have been several types of pintle injector from hole type pintle injector to planar pintle injector [1]. Some may
serve as a constant thrust injector and the other may have the ability of throttle. For this study, throttling is the major
concern, thus the geometry given with Fig. 1 is selected as the base geometry for the design which is studied as base
geometry for Son et al. as well [4]. Here, the oxidizer (LOX) flows through innr gap which is pintle gap with thickness
defined as tpg. Outer flow is fuel (GCH4) flow which flows through the annular gap.

Fig. 1 Base Geometry For the Design Tool.

The mission requirements are defined as thrust profile, lowest thrust level’s chamber pressure, size constraints and
O/F ratios for throttle levels. For this design maximum thrust is given as 750N, lowest chamber pressure is 20 bar,
fuel mass flow rate is constant and O/F ratio for thrust levels are 1,2,3,4 respectively.

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 The design starts with obtaining C* values for every throttle level with NASA computer program Chemical
Equilibrium with Applications (CEA). All C* value is calculated with lower thrust level’s chamber pressure for
corresponding O/F ratio. After that, the relation given with Eq. (1) is used to obtain chamber pressure for every throttle
level with obtained C* values for lowest thrust level.

𝑃𝑐 1 𝐴𝑡
𝐶1∗ 𝑚̇1
≡ (1)
𝐶2∗ 𝑃𝑐 2 𝐴𝑡
𝑚̇2

Following the previous step, NASA CEA is again used with the actual chamber pressures found with Eq. (1) to obtain
the actual C* values and Isp values. Mass flow rate and throat are calculated with Eq. (2) and Eq. (3).

𝑇 = 𝑚̇𝐼𝑠𝑝 𝑔 (2)
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𝑇 = 𝑃𝑐 𝐶𝑓 𝐴𝑡 (3)

To calculate geometrical parameters given with Fig. 1, firstly diameter of pintle tip and the thickness of annular gap
are assumed. Speed of fuel is calculated at the outlet of the injector and if it is higher than the speed of sound,
assumptions are made till it is lower than the speed of sound. Pintle tracing distance is given with Eq. (4) where μ is
the viscosity, ρ is the density, R is gas constant TCH4 is injection temperature and K is the characteristic number
defined by Eq. (5) [8]. In this equation Re is the Reynolds number and MR is the momentum ratio.

𝑡𝑎𝑔 𝜇𝐿𝑂𝑋
𝐿𝑡𝑜𝑑 = 𝑂𝐹 ∗ 𝐾 ∗ ( )( )𝑇
𝜌𝐿𝑂𝑋 𝐴𝑡 𝑅𝐶𝐻4 𝑇𝐶𝐻+ 𝜇𝐶𝐻4 (4)

𝑀𝑅. 𝑅𝑒𝐿𝑂𝑋
𝐾= (5)
𝑅𝑒𝐶𝐻4
6 different injectors are designed for given mission requirements and dimensions are given with Table 1. Moreover,
following the given equations, pintle tracing distances are given with Table 2 where characteristic number for first
three design is 0.25 and 0.13 for the remaining ones.

Table 1. 6 Different Injectors and Dimensions.

Thickness
Pintle Pintle Pintle
of
Injector Support Tip Gap Shadow Angle Pintle Angle
Annular
Number Thickness Diameter Thickness [deg] [deg]
Gap
[mm] [mm] [mm]
[mm]
1 3 8 0.5 1.5 30 20
2 3 8 0.5 1.5 30 30
3 3 8 0.5 1.5 30 40
4 3 8 1 1.5 30 20
5 3 8 1 1.5 30 30
6 3 8 1 1.5 30 40

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 Table 2. Pintle Tracing Distances at Design Point for Each Injector.

Chamber Oxidizer Mass Pintle Tracing

Fuel Mass Flow
Pressure Thrust Flow Rate [kg/s] Distance
O/F Ratio C* [m/s] Cf Rate
Obtained by [N] [mm]
[kg/s]
Step 1 [bar]
1 20.00 1346.0 1.51 232.27 0.0571 0.0571 0.040
2 39.76 1787.3 1.51 461.79 0.0568 0.113 0.151
3 53.93 1839.1 1.52 630.57 0.0564 0.169 0.310
4 64.15 1756.8 1.52 750.00 0.0562 0.22 0.500
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III. Test Matrix and Experimental Work

The experimental setup is given by Fig 2. Water is stored in a water tank and it is supplied to the injector with a
centrifugal pump at constant mass flow rate. While supplying the water, the mass flow rate and pressure at the
injector is stored to data accusation system. Air is supplied from a 10 m3 tank, and an orifice is set on the line with
a flowmeter to supply constant mass flow rate. The tank sizes are enough that both air and water supplying is not
interrupted during the test and on the water pipe there is water filter to block dirt etc. Sauter mean diameter and
velocity of the particles are traced with PDPA system at the same time. Shadowgraph test setup can also be added
to the system non-intrusively with a high speed camera and a light source shown with Fig 2.

Light
Source
Injector

Camera

(a) (b)

Fig 2. (a) Experimental Test Setup [9], (b) Shadowgraph Test Setup.
Inner geometry, for both air and water, determines the direction of the flow at the outlets. Studies shown that there
may be torsional flows for some designs and before having a test with a design, the design should be validated to have
uniform flow [3]. Three different types of inner geometries are investigated to obtain. These types are introduced by
Fig. 3, Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. For all these tests, flow rates and the pipe region dimensions are same; however, inner
geometries and spray patterns are different Moreover, water flow is supplied through air passages to visualize the
flow. It is given with Fig. 6 and torsional flow through first and second design is observed. After observing the spray
uniformities, it is decided to continue with third design which has the proper uniformity.

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 Fig. 3 First Design and Shadowgraph Test.
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Fig. 4 Second Design and Shadowgraph Test.

Fig. 5 Third Design and Shadowgraph Test.

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Fig. 6 Water Flow Through Air Passages (Order of Designs: I, II, III).
Cold flow test matrix is arranged for the injectors given with Table 1 according to design conditions given by Table
2.Since Table 2 is for real propellants and experiments are carried with water and air flow, a conversion for mass flow
rates is needed. This conversion is done according to Lee’s new characteristic parameter, Kconv, for this base geometry
given with Eq. (6) [10]. This correlation is developed with cryogenic spray experiments including the density effects
for the cold flow measurements. To use this correlation for cold flow experiments, one can replace the fuel velocity
and density with air values and oxidizer’s values with the water values. For this study, this conversion number is set
to be equal with design condition. Calculated conversion number, total momentum ratio (7) and the test conditions are
given with Table 3.
0.5
𝜌
( 𝐶𝐻4 ) 𝑉𝐶𝐻+ 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑛
𝜌
𝐾𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣 = 𝑎𝑖𝑟@𝑎𝑡𝑚0.5
𝜌 (6)
( 𝐿𝑂𝑋 ) 𝑉𝐿𝑂𝑋 𝐿𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛
𝜌𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝑚̇𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑉𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 cos(α)

𝑇𝑀𝑅 =
𝑚̇𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑉𝑎𝑖𝑟 + 𝑚̇𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑉𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 sin(α)
(7)

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 Table 3. Cold Flow Experiment Matrix

Mass
Mass
Flow Pintle Tracing
Injector Experiment O/F Ratio Flow
Rate of Distance TMR Kconv
Number Number Simulated Rate of
Water [mm]
Air [g/s]
[g/s]
1 2 2.4 44 0.151 1.69 32.56
1 2 3 1.8 57 0.310 2.49 18.68
3 4 1.5 69 0.500 3.31 12.73
4 2 2.4 44 0.151 1.66 29.92
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2 5 3 1.8 57 0.310 2.46 17.12

6 4 1.5 69 0.500 3.28 11.62
7 2 2.4 44 0.151 1.62 26.42
3 8 3 1.8 57 0.310 2.42 15.09
9 4 1.5 69 0.500 3.24 10.22
10 2 4.7 44 0.151 0.94 60.22
4 11 3 3.5 57 0.310 1.41 34.32
12 4 2.9 69 0.500 1.89 23.24
13 2 4.7 44 0.151 0.94 55.34
5 14 3 3.5 57 0.310 1.41 31.44
15 4 2.9 69 0.500 1.89 21.22
16 2 4.7 44 0.151 0.93 48.87
6 17 3 3.5 57 0.310 1.39 27.72
18 4 2.9 69 0.500 1.88 18.67

First, Sauter mean diameters (SMD) and axial/radial velocities are measured with 2-component PDPA system shown
with Fig 2. PDPA is a pointwise measurement system based on the measurement probe created by the system’s optics.
Measurements are taken at symmetry plane of the injector according to y-direction and spray cone is scanned by
measurement probe with 5mm intervals on x and z axis and axial/radial velocities and SMDs at specified locations
are shown by Fig 7.

7
 z
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Fig 7. PDPA Measurement Points on a Spray Cone.

To compare the O/F ratio differences are for same injector, experiments 1,2 and 3 are compared with each other.
SMDs are given with Fig. 8 and axial velocity is given with Fig 9. SMD for Injector 1, increases as the O/F ratio
increases, because the velocity of the air decreases and momentum ratio decreases. Along the x direction, it is seen
that droplets are smaller for each case. However, at 5 Dt experiment 3 SMD values are getting higher, it is thought that
it is because vortex for this experiment weakens at this position if the axial velocity components are investigated along
x direction for this experiment. The streamlines are given with Fig 10 and it is seen that as the conversion number
decreases, the vortex gets closer to the pintle tip.

Fig. 8. Sauter Mean Diameters at Different Positions for Experiment 1,2 and 3.

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Downloaded by TUBITAK SAGE on September 3, 2019 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2019-4117

Fig 9. Axial Velocities at Different Positions for Experiment 1,2 and 3.

Fig 10. Streamlines and Axial Velocity Contours for Experiments 1,2 and 3.
Thickness of annular gap is another geometrical parameter affects the particle diameter and spray cone angle.
Experiment 1,2,3 and experiments 10,11,12 are chosen to be compared for annular gap effect with same velocities.
Fig. 11 and Fig 12 represents the SMDs and axial velocities for these experiments. As expected, increase in conversion
number, which is proportional to air velocity, increases the axial velocity components measured. Moreover, this

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 increase caused the vortexes get closer to the pintle tip, as it can be seen from Fig 12. The negative axial velocity
components along x axis increases and becomes positive closer to pintle tip rather than the experiment 1,2,3. It is also
seen that as the velocity becomes positive, SMDs increases drastically at the end of the vortices.
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Fig. 11. Sauter Mean Diameters for Experiment 10,11 and 12.

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Fig 12. Axial Velocities for Experiment 10,11 and 12.

Fig 13. Streamlines and Axial Velocity Contour of Experiment 10,11 and 12.

Tip angle of pintle has also effects on the spray cone and SMDs, experiments 3,6 and 9 are chosen to compare this
effect. Fig. 14 gives the SMDs of these experiments and droplets are increasing with increasing pintle tip angle as the
water flow is contracted. For experiments 6 and 9, there is even no vortices existing and for pintle tip angles at these

11
 flow rates, similar SMD profile is obtained. Correlation with axial velocities are shown with Fig. 15, vortexes occur
only at 20° injector which is injector 1.
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Fig. 14. Sauter Mean Diameters of Experiment 3,6 and 9.

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Downloaded by TUBITAK SAGE on September 3, 2019 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2019-4117

Fig. 15.Axial Velocities of Experiments 3,6 and 9.

In addition to PDPA analysis, shadowgraph experiments are conducted for the given test matrix mentioned in Table
3. More experiments are carried out with shadowgraph system because the experiment’s period is much shorter
compared with the PDPA experiments. The experiment duration is 200ms and with high speed camera 10000 frames
per second are captured. An image processing MATLAB code is used for spray cone measurement. Code simply
draws two lines, one at the pintle tip and the second at the 6.25 D t . Along these lines, the contrast is investigated and
when the difference is captured, code detects the location. Then, the spray half cone angle is calculated as shown with
Fig. 16.

Fig. 16. Spray Cone Angle Measurement

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 Nondimensional parameters are used to present the results of the spray cone angle measurements such as TMR and
conversion number mentioned with Eq. (6).
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Fig. 17. Conversion Number versus Spray Half Cone Angle

Fig. 18. TMR vs Spray Half Cone Angle

IV. Conclusion
In this study, a design procedure for liquid oxygen and gaseous methane pintle injector is investigated. Developed
design methodology is presented and dimensions of the injectors designed are given. Since, the equipment is only
available for cold flow tests, rather than hot flow experiments water and air are used as simulants of gaseous methane
and water. A conversion number from literature is applied to find mass flow rates for the simulants. Experiments are
carried out to find Sauter mean diameters and spray half cone angles of the injectors at these flow rates. PDPA system
is used for the radial and axial/radial velocity and SMD measurements. The phenomenon at these flow rates are
discussed and it is found that if the dual vortex is present at the spray cone, at the end of the vortex droplet diameters
increase. Moreover, spray half cone measurements are done with shadowgraph system and results are represented by
nondimensional parameters. The results show that to obtain recirculation zone mass flow rates may change for higher

14
 pintle tip angles. Moreover, these experiments are conducted under atmospheric conditions to simulate pressurized
environment, thus it is better to have hot flow experiments to compare with cold flow experiments.

V. Acknowledgments
This study was supported by TÜBİTAK SAGE and generous technical support from Tolga Tokgöz, Onur Baran
and Bora Yazıcı was given.

VI.References

[1] G. A. Dressler and J. M. Bauer, "TRW Pintle Engine Heritage and Performance Characteristics," in AIAA,
Redondo Beach, CA, 2000.
[2] E. J. Mercieca, "Spray Characteristics in Gas/ Liquid Pintle Injection," TU Delft, Delft, 2017.
[3] M. Bedard, T. W. Feldman, A. Rettenmaier and W. Anderson, "Student Design/Build/Test of a Throttleable
Downloaded by TUBITAK SAGE on September 3, 2019 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2019-4117

LOX-LCH4 Thrust Chamber," in 48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Atlanta
Georgia, 2012.
[4] M. Son, K. Radhakrishnan and J. Koo, "Design Procedure of a Movable Pintle Injector for Liquid Rocket
Engines," JOURNAL OF PROPULSION AND POWER, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 858-869, 2017.
[5] M. Son, K. Radhakrishnan, Y. Yoon and J. Koo, "Numerical study on the combustion characteristics of a fuel-
centered pintle injector for methane rocket engines," Acta Astronautica, vol. 135, pp. 139-149, 2017.
[6] P. Cheng, Q. Li, S. Xu and Z. Kang, "On the prediction of spray angle of liquid-liquid pintle injectors," Acta
Astronautica, vol. 138, pp. 145-151, 2017.
[7] K. Sakaki, H. Kakudo, S. Nakaya, M. Tsue, K. Suzuki, R. Kanai, T. Inagawa and T. Hiraiwa, "Combustion
Characteristics of Ethanol/Liquid-Oxygen Rocket-Engine Combustor with Planar Pintle Injector," JOURNAL
OF PROPULSION AND POWER, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 514-521, 2017.
[8] M. Son, K. Yu, K. Radhakrishnan and J. Koo, "Design Procedure of a Movable Pintle Injector for Liquid Rocket
Engines," in 54th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, San Diego, Califrnia, USA, 2016.
[9] O. Baran, B. Sümer and Y. Özyörük, "Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Coaxial Pressure Swirl
Injector," in AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum , San Diego, California, 2019.
[10] K. Lee, D. Shin, M. Son, H. Moon and J. Koo, "Flow visualization of cryogenic spray from a movable pintle
injector," Journal of Visualization, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 773-781, 2019.

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