Methods for thermo-mechanical analyses of small rocket engines
conference paper
The design of a small rocket engine is a real challenge for engineers; a common design issue is whether the engine is able to withstand the harsh temperatures and other severe conditions during operation or not. The answer to this seemingly obvious question requires the solving of a very complex problem; it involves among others the gas flow in the engine and the chemical reactions herein, the heat transfer into the material and within the material. This heat causes local extension of the material, which adds internal stresses to the equation. The associated research area is dubbed thermo-mechanics. The required testing and analysis requires the availability of specialized facilities and design tools. The Netherlands organization for applied scientific research TNO, core area Defence, Security and Safety, in conjunction with APP, Aerospace Propulsion Products bv, possesses testing facilities and calculation tools for thermo-mechanical analyses of rocket engines. The current combination of testing, a fast and robust calculation method and a detailed, 3-dimensional calculation method enables TNO and APP to thoroughly test and validate rocket engines. The working of this combination will be presented in the current paper, with the focus on the calculations tools
TNO Identifier
183360
Article nr.
S37-61
Source title
Space Propulsion 2008. 5th International Spacecraft Propulsion Conference and 2nd International Symposium on Propulsion for Space Transportation, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 5-8 May 2008
Pages
12 p.
Files
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