Ignition characteristics and combustion performances of a LO₂/GCH₄ small thrust rocket engine

Abstract

A 500 N model engine filled with LO₂/GCH₄ was designed and manufactured. A series of ignition attempts were performed in it by both head spark plug and body spark plug. Results show that the engine can be ignited but the combustion cannot be sustained when head spark plug applied as the plug tip was set in the gaseous low-velocity zone with thin spray. This is mainly because flame from this zone cannot supply enough ignition energy for the whole chamber. However, reliable ignition and stable combustion can be achieved by body spark plug. As the O/F ratio increases from 2.61 to 3.49, chamber pressure increases from 0.474 to 0.925 MPa and combustion efficiency increases from 57.8% to 95.1%. This is determined by the injector configuration, which cannot produce the sufficiently breakup of the liquid oxygen on the low flow rate case.

Keywords

LO₂/GCH₄ / small thrust rocket engine / ignition characteristic / combustion performance

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