Comprehensive review of liquid-propellant combustion instabilities in F-1 engines

Abstract

disparity in time and length scales exist in close proximity to one another. Although advances in the field have been made, the largest and most reliable source of information to date applicable to the design of improved combustion devices is the store of experimental data from full-scale engine tests. Consequently, the motivation behind the present work was to gain further insight into the mechanisms associated with combustion instability by providing a detailed, concise account and analyses of the design attributes which led to dynamic stability in F-l developmental injectors. Objectives were 1) to preserve the experience gained through development of the F-l engine; 2) to merge full-scale test results with corresponding theories and experiments; and 3) to analyze the effect of proposed solutions. To facilitate analysis, all available full-scale component and engine test data have been combined into a single data base. This compilation provides a complete genealogy of F-l developmental injector design configurations, and contains all available measured and observed test results. Table 1 lists the injector design parameters and test results acquired. The complete data base is available as an appendix to a separate technical report prepared by the authors.1 These data have been assembled from a variety of sources.2^ Reference 2 is a chronological tabulation of full-scale injector component test results recorded at the test site. This document lists the injectors tested along with the date, chamber pressure, thrust, run time, mixture ratio, bomb size, and damp times, as well as observations made during various tests. Reference 3 contains a set of 16 reports (four volumes of four reports each) which present a somewhat chronological account of the methodology leading to a dynamically stable injector design. Full-scale engine and component test results are discussed throughout this set of reports. Reference 4 provides a broad overview of the problems and solutions encountered with combustion instability in the F-l engine. Finally, Refs. 5 and 6 are weekly