Experimental and numerical investigation on thrust modulation performance of SRM by vortex valve
- Paper number
IAC-06-C4.2.08
- Author
Mr. Yu Xiao-Jing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
- Coauthor
Prof. Guoqiang He, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
- Coauthor
Prof. Jiang Li, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
- Coauthor
Prof. Pei-Jing Liu, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Vortex valve, by tangential injecting control gas to influence main gas flow rate without moving parts, was an effective device for controlling hot gas. To investigate its performance when applied to solid rocket motor (SRM) thrust modulation, numerical simulations of VVSRM (vortex valve controlled solid rocket motor) working process were carried out with different geometry configurations and controllable parameters, and an experiment system was established and tested according to computational results. Numerical simulations were mainly focused on two kinds of parameters, namely, vortex valve geometry dimensions, such as vortex chamber diameter and height etc., and control gas parameters, such as mass flow rate and temperature etc., which were most influential on VVSRM thrust modulation performance for a given propellant. By analyzing computational results, the relation between parameter variation and thrust modulation were obtained. It was concluded that the momentum of the control gas was a key factor to thrust modulation performance. And unsteady numerical simulations were also performed to study the influence of transient flow field on system performance. Results showed that the VVSRM thrust response frequency could reach up to 5Hz without unstable combustion. Based on the numerical simulation, an experiment system was established, which composed of an existing 300mm diameter test motor, graphite vortex valve, control gas supply sub-system, measurement and control sub-system. High-pressure nitrogen was used as control gas. Several static firing tests were performed with different vortex valve geometry and control gas flow rate. Good agreement between experimental data and computational results were demonstrated. Using an optimized vortex valve configuration, the test motor got a threefold thrust augmentation with specific impulse loss rate less than 15 percent. The thrust modulation performance could be further improved if the structure of the whole system was optimized or (and) the control gas temperature was increased. This paper detailedly investigated the thrust modulation performance of VVSRM. The relation between critical parameters and thrust modulation were obtained. Thrust modulation was realized on existing test motor. Further studies were needed to develop VVSRM to a flight-weight realizable system.
- Abstract document