DESIGN OF A ROCKET INJECTOR

FOR A LIQUID BI-PROPELLANT

SYSTEM
Presented by:
Andrew Schwarz
Woon-Ho Cho
Simtha Sankaran

AE 267
Instructor: Dr Periklis E. Papadopoulos
December 7, 2004

Objective
Obtain the optimum propellant mixture ratio
based on different injector parameters. The
resultant mixture should impinge in an axial
direction along the combustion chamber
axis.

Assumptions

Hypergolic ignition (no need for igniter)

Incompressible fluid
Resultant momentum at the point of impingement
between the fuel and oxidizer flow is axially directed
Optimum mixture ratio based on optimum Isp
Adiabatic combustion and isentropic expansion of an
ideal gas
Optimum expansion at nozzle exit (1 atm)
Combustion chamber pressure of 1000 psia (6895
kN/m2)

Parameters

Input variables

Propellant combination (densities of fuel and ox)

Pressure Drop (across injector plate)
Discharge Coefficient (depends on quality of orifice)
Injector hole pattern (spacing and number of holes)
Diameter of oxidizer orifice
Diameter of fuel orifice

Output Values

Volume flow rate

Mixture ratio
Injection velocity
Combustion chamber cross-sectional area
Angle of impingement

Cd - Coefficient of discharge
A Total injector area
p- Pressure Drop across injector

Equations

Density of propellant

Injection velocity

vi Cd

2p

vi ( o ) Cd

2p
o

Qo Cd Ao

2p
o

vi ( f ) Cd

2p
f

Volume flow rate

2p
Q Cd A

Mass flow rate

m Q

m o oQo

m f f Q f

Q f Cd A f

2p
f

m o
r
m f
Suffix o and f denotes
oxidizer and fuel

Injector Hole Pattern

Equations (cont.)

Area
Ao(total) = No Ao
Af(total) = Nf Af

Hole pattern
Cn = (nD)
Nn = Cn/d
N = Nn
N =N/2 N =N/2

Suffix o and f denotes oxidizer

f
o
and fuel

D Spacing between each concentric circle

d - Spacing between each hole
C Circumference
n - nth circle
N Total number of holes
A Area of hole

Equations (cont.)

m o vo sin o m f v f sin f
tan
m o vo cos o m f v f cos f

m o vo sin o m f vf sin f

Axial flow (tan = 0)

Propellant combinations
Oxidizers

Nitrogen Tetroxide ( N2O4)

Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)
Nitric Acid (H2NO3 )
Liquid Oxygen (O2)

Fuels
Ammonia (NH3 )
Analine (C6H5NH2)
Ethanol (C2H5OH)
Hydrazine (N2H4)
Liquid Hydrogen (H2)
Monomethyl-hydrazine (CH3)2NNH2 (MMH)

Propellant Reactions
N2O4 + N2H4

N2O4 + MMH

H2O2 + N2H4

H2O2 + MMH

H2O2 + NH3

H2O2 + C2H5OH

H2O2 + H2

O2 + C6H5NH2

H2NO3 + N2H4

H2NO3 + MMH

Baseline

Theoretical values for optimum mixture ratio

p is 15% - 25% of Pc

Pc is 1000 psia

Cylindrical injector and hole pattern

Like-unlike stream pattern
Experimental values of Cd

Stream Pattern

Discharge Coefficient

Procedure

Program layout to find number of injector

orifices

# of concentric
circles

Circumference of nth circle

Spacing
between circles

# of orifices on nth circle

Spacing
between holes

Total number of orifices

Number of
oxidizer and
fuel orifices

Program outline to find optimum mixture ratio

Pressure Drop
Density
Coefficient of
discharge
Area

Total propellant flow

Volume flow rate
Injection velocity

Condition for axial

flow

Mixture
ratio

Sample Data for Hole Pattern Calculation

in

mm

in

mm

0.25

6.3500

0.25

6.3500

Cn

Nactual

Ntotal

dactual

0.78540

3.14159

0.19635

0.05365

1.57080

6.28319

10

0.26180

0.01180

2.35619

9.42478

10

20

0.23562

0.01438

3.14159

12.56637

12

32

0.26180

0.01180

3.92699

15.70796

16

48

0.24544

0.00456

4.71239

18.84956

18

66

0.26180

0.01180

5.49779

21.99115

22

88

0.24990

0.00010

6.28319

25.13274

26

114

0.24166

0.00834

7.06858

28.27433

28

142

0.25245

0.00245

10

7.85398

31.41593

32

174

0.24544

0.00456

11

8.63938

34.55752

34

208

0.25410

0.00410

12

9.42478

37.69911

38

246

0.24802

0.00198

Results

The size of the fuel and oxidizer orifices directly affect the mixture
ratio.
Changing the hole pattern only adds more mass flow to the
combustion chamber. Mixture ratio stays the same.
The quality of the orifices (Cd) affects both the propellant flow
characteristics and mixing properties.

Conclusion

Remarks
Further applications can be applied:

Study heat transfer in combustion chamber wall near

injector surface
Real gas chemical equilibrium combustion
Study combustion stability (pressure propagation and
vibration)
Flow characteristics of the injectors internal piping
(more pressure losses)
Transient effects (starting and stopping conditions)

References
Rocket Propulsion Elements, George P. Sutton, Oscar Biblarz. 7th Edition.
Wiley-Interscience, 2001
Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion, Philip Hill and Carl Peterson.
2nd Edition. Addison-Wesley, 1992
Aerothermodynamics of Gas Turbine and Rocket Propulsion, Gordon C.
Oates. 3rd Edition. AIAA Series, 1997
Modern Compressible Flow, John D. Anderson. 3rd edition. Mc Graw Hill, 2003
Building GUIs with MATLAB, Version 5. The Mathworks Inc., June 1997
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004. Encyclopaedia Britannica Premium Service,
Dec. 7, 2004