Modeling the effect of reusability on the performance of an existing LPRE

• Published in: Acta astronautica 2021-04, Vol.181, p.201-216
• Main Authors: Naderi, Mahyar, Karimi, Hasan, Guozhu, Liang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerospace engines; Combustion; Combustion chambers; Engine components; Launch vehicle performance; Launch vehicles; Liquid propellant rocket engines; Liquid propellants; Reusability; Reusable liquid propellant rocket engine; Reusable rocket engines; Rockets; Simulation; Space Shuttle Main Engine; Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME); Space shuttles; Specific impulse; Steady-state performance; System modeling and simulation; Throats; Thrust
• ISSN: 0094-5765; 1879-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.12.001

The objective of this research is to study the impact of main engine parameters on the performance of a reusable liquid propellant rocket engine (LPRE). For this purpose, after a brief review over the available reusable liquid propellant rocket engines (RLPREs), the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) is selected as a case study and a modular simulation software has been developed for analyzing the steady-state performance of LPRE in MATLAB Simulink. The evolution path of SSME is studied in detail and considering the reusability, two approaches have been selected. In the first approach, the performance of an expendable version of SSME is simulated and compared with the reusable version. It is found that the SSME working at 109% or higher rated thrust level (RTL) is the most possible option for the expendable version of this engine. The simulation results show that the components of the expendable SSME would work at 3–12% higher operating condition and the engine thrust would be 4.76% higher. In the second approach, in order to decrease the loads on the engine components and to enhance the reusability capability, the throat of the combustion chamber is enlarged. The simulation results show that by 11% increase in the combustion chamber throat area, the average load on the engine's different components would decrease 5–17% but for the same level of thrust, the specific impulse would be 2.43 s less. It is believed that the obtained results can help the designers to have a quantitative overview of the effect of reusability on the LPRE and launch vehicle performance during the conceptual design phase. •The reusability of a liquid propellant rocket engine is quantitatively analyzed.•The evolution path of SSME variants are studied comprehensively.•Performance of reusable rocket engines are lower than similar expendable versions.•Increasing the throat area of main combustion chamber reduces the loads on engine.