Computational and experimental study on supersonic film cooling for liquid rocket nozzle applications

Abstract

An experimental and computational investigation of supersonic film cooling (SFC) was conducted on a subscale model of a rocket engine nozzle. A computational model of a convergent-divergent nozzle was generated, incorporating a secondary injection module for film cooling in the divergent section. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations were run on the model and different injection configurations were analyzed. The CFD simulations also analyzed the parameters that influence film cooling effectiveness. Subsequent to the CFD analysis and literature survey an angled injection configuration was found to be more effective, therefore the hardware was fabricated for the same. The fabricated nozzle was later fixed to an Air-Kerosene combustor and numerous sets of experiments were conducted in order to ascertain the effect on film cooling on the nozzle wall. The film coolant employed was gaseous Nitrogen. The results showed substantial cooling along the walls and a considerable reduction in heat transfer from the combustion gas to the wall of the nozzle. Finally the computational model was validated using the experimental results. There was fairly good agreement between the predicted nozzle wall temperature and the value obtained through experiments.