Validation of Conjugate Heat Transfer Model for Rocket Cooling with Supercritical Methane

A numerical solver able to describe a rocket engine cooling channel fed with supercritical methane is validated against experimental data coming from a test article conceived and tested by the Italian Aerospace Research Center. The multidimensional conjugate heat transfer model numerically solves th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of propulsion and power 2016-05, Vol.32 (3), p.726-733
Main Authors: Pizzarelli, Marco, Nasuti, Francesco, Votta, Raffaele, Battista, Francesco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computational fluid dynamics
Conduction heating
Conjugates
Coolants
Cooling
Heat transfer
Mass flow rate
Mathematical models
Methane
Parameter uncertainty
Pressure drop
Research facilities
Rocket engines
Surface roughness
Thermal conductivity
Wall temperature
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Summary:A numerical solver able to describe a rocket engine cooling channel fed with supercritical methane is validated against experimental data coming from a test article conceived and tested by the Italian Aerospace Research Center. The multidimensional conjugate heat transfer model numerically solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations for the coolant flow and the Fourier’s law of conduction for the heat transfer within the wall. In this study, an experimental test case is reproduced in detail in order to evaluate the influence of partially unknown parameters, such as surface roughness and wall thermal conductivity, and of operative parameter uncertainty, such as the coolant mass flow rate and input heat transfer rate. The comparison made with respect to the wall temperature and coolant pressure drop of the whole set of experimental data provides complementary information that allows better understanding of experiments and infers possible deviations from the expected behavior.
ISSN:0748-4658
1533-3876
DOI:10.2514/1.B35945