Regenerative-Cooling Heat-Transfer Performance of Mg/CO2 Powder Rocket Engines for Mars Missions

• Published in: International journal of aeronautical and space sciences Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 928 - 935
• Main Authors: Zhu, Supeng, Wei, Ronggang, Hu, Chunbo, Li, Chao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences (KSAS) 01.07.2023; 한국항공우주학회
• Subjects: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics; Engineering; Fluid- and Aerodynamics; Original Paper; 항공우주공학; Thermal control; rocket engine; Mg/CO; Regenerative cooling; Heat transfer; Mars exploration
• ISSN: 2093-274X; 2093-2480
• DOI: 10.1007/s42405-022-00563-3

Aimed at the problem of thermal protection due to the long-time operation of Mg/CO 2 rocket engines under high pressure and heat flux, a regenerative-cooling heat-transfer model is established that considers liquid-CO 2 phase change under engine heat flow. How the height-to-width ratio of the cooling channel and the coolant mass flow rate influence the heat-transfer performance is studied, and the results show that the CO 2 experiences liquid-phase, two-phase boiling, and gas-phase heat transfer. It is necessary to carry out division-of-region design to avoid membrane-boiling or gas-phase heat transfer in the cooling channel for a long time. When the coolant enters the nuclear boiling stage of two-phase heat transfer near the throat, the heat-transfer coefficient reaches its maximum value, as does the temperature of the corresponding combustor wall, which is 918.1–1012.3 K. When the CO 2 flow rate exceeds 5 g/s, the continuous increase of coolant flow has a limited increase in the heat-transfer coefficient of liquid and two-phase heat transfer, but continuing to increase the CO 2 flow rate can expand significantly the occurrence region of phase-change heat transfer, so as to bring better heat transfer.