Numerical Study on Influences of Drag Reducing Additive in Supercritical Flow of Kerosene in a Millichannel

Abstract

To improve the performance of a high-pressure refueling liquid oxy-kerosene engine, the influence of drag-reducing additive on the heat transfer characteristics in the supercritical flow of kerosene in a microchannel for regenerative cooling is explored. The finite-volume CFD numerical simulation method is applied using the RNG k-ε turbulence model and enhanced wall function. The current work faithfully represents the effect of the drag-reducing additive in kerosene through numerical calculations by combining a 10-component model for the physical properties of the kerosene and the Carreau non-Newtonian fluid constitutive model from rheological measurements. Results suggest that the 10-component kerosene surrogate can describe the supercritical physical properties of kerosene. The inlet temperature, inlet velocity, and the heat flux on the channel wall are driving factors for the supercritical kerosene flow and heat transfer characteristics. The pressure influence on the heat transfer is negligible. With polymer additives, the loss in pressure drop and heat transfer performance of supercritical kerosene flow decrease 46.8% and 37.5% respectively. The enhancement of engine thrust caused by reduction in pressure drop is an attractive improvement of concern.