Project Team
Students
Katie Blyler
Aerospace Engineering
Penn State Harrisburg
Faculty Mentors
Brian Maicke
Penn State Harrisburg
Mechanical Engineering
David Lyons
University Park
Autonomy, Perception, and Cognition
Project
Project Video
Project Abstract
Hybrid rocket motors are a safer, cleaner, and cheaper alternative to solid or liquid rocket motors; however, hybrids have low regression rates when compared to other types of rockets. This research looks at how fuel composition and gravitational orientation affect droplet entrainment in liquefying fuels to improve regression rates. CONVERGE CFD simulation software was used to simulate how the fuel and oxidizer interact. These simulations will show droplet entrainment and thus how the regression rate is affected. Simulations with gravity turned on showed that gravity has the largest effect on entrainment when the vector is pointing from the paraffin wax towards the oxidizer, pulling the paraffin wax into the oxidizer. The simulations of different fuel compositions showed that C32H66 should have a higher regression rate than other tested paraffins. They also showed that it might be important to use turbulence modeling to limit any high-velocity areas and make the model more realistic. The results allow for improvements to be made to our models of hybrid rocket motors and thus their regression rates in the future.
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