Introduction to Rocket Propulsion: Lecture

Hybrid Rockets: Regression Rate and Preliminary Design

 Outline

• Combustion instabilities

• Non-classical regression rate theory

• Preliminary design of a hybrid rocket motor

• Launch vehicle performance and staging

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 Combustion Instabilities

• Large-amplitude combustion oscillations occur often in confined flame

spaces (and especially with hybrids) with detrimental consequences

• Unsteady thrust, structural damage, increased heat transfer

• Fuel mass flow rate fluctuations

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Combustion Instabilities

Weak or non-existent
hot gas recirculation
results in unstable
combustion

Sutton and Biblarz, 2001

Maharaj, 2018

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Combustion Instability
Example

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 Combustion Instabilities

• Time lag of vaporisation and combustion of the injected oxidizer

• Fuel grain chuffing

• Pressure coupled combustion in high or low total mass flux regimes

• Vortex shedding

• Shear layer/acoustic interactions in the aft mixing chamber

• Time dependent nature of boundary layer leading edge

• Hydrodynamic feed system coupling

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 Ways of Rectifying
Instabilities
• Minimising vaporisation time of the oxidizer
•
• Avoiding a “hydraulic flip” in the injector in which the flow never reattaches

• Ensuring a high injector pressure drop (15%)

• Using an isolating element on the feed line

• Decreasing compressibility in the feed line

Sutton, G; Biblarz, O. (2017). Hybrid Propellants Rocket Propulsion. Rocket Propulsion Elements. 9th ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. 614.

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 Non-classical Regression Rate
Theory
Classical model:
• Vaporisation of solid due to
heat feedback from flame

Non-classical model:
• Melting surface layer
• Formation of droplets that are
entrained into the gaseous flow Marxman, 1965

Total regression rate is equal to the

regression due to vaporisation in
addition to the regression due to
entrainment Karabeyoglu, 2001

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 Non-classical Regression Rate
Theory
• In liquefying fuels such as paraffin wax, a portion of the energy that
goes into the surface of the fuel grain melts the solid but does not
vaporise it

• The loss of mass from the surface of the fuel grain by this entrainment
mechanism is given by:

Karabeyoglu, Altman and Cantwell, 2002

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Non-classical Regression Rate
Theory

Karabeyoglu, 2001

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Results
Pentane and Gaseous Oxygen (GOx)

Karabeyoglu, 2002

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 Hybrid Rocket Prelim Design

• Overall design and dimensions of the PV-3 hybrid rocket motor will be considered

• This motor fit into the Phoenix 1-B MkII

• The MkII is a paraffin wax/N2O rocket with a design apogee of approximately 35 km

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 Hybrid Rocket Prelim Design
Requirements:

• Reach an apogee of 35 km

• Must be cost effective and safe to use

From the above requirements alone it can be seen that hybrid rockets are well
suited. They are easily capable of reaching 35 km and are far safer than solids and
less complicated (and much cheaper!) than liquids.

Constraints:

• Propellants must be storable and safe

• Components should be relatively cheap and easy to manufacture

• The rocket must be small enough to be transported by available means

• A primary constraint is the diameter size of available 6061-T6 aluminum tube

(164 mm)
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 Hybrid Rocket Prelim Design

Results from HRPC and NASA CEA at 40 bar chamber pressure:

Optimum O/F ratio is at about 5.4

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Hybrid Rocket Prelim Design

Theoretical pressure and thrust curves generated from HRPC

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 Hybrid Rocket Prelim Design

Things to consider at this point:

• The O/F ratio shifts over the course of the burn

• The blow-down configuration means that the chamber pressure decreases

over the burn time. This affects nozzle performance and injector back-
pressure.

• The atmospheric pressure decays over time affecting nozzle performance

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Recommended Motor Design Parameters

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System Integration - MkI

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Staging – How to make rockets go further

• Staging allows the thrust of the remaining stages to more easily

accelerate the rocket to its final speed and height.

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Staging – Parallel Staging

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/rocket/Images/rktstag2.gif

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