Coupled Numerical Simulation of Wall Heat Conduction and Coolant Flow in Liquid Rocket Engines

Abstract

Coolant-flow modeling in regeneratively cooled rocket engines fed with turbo-machinery is a challenging task because of the high wall temperature gradient, the high Reynolds number, the high aspect ratio of the channel cross section and the heat transfer coupling with the hot-gas flow and the solid material. In this study the effect of wall heat conduction on the coolant flow is analyzed by means of coupled computations between a validated Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations solver for the coolant flow-field and a Fourier’s equation solver for the thermal conduction in the solid material. Computations of supercritical-hydrogen flow in a straight channel with and without coupling with the solid material are performed and compared in order to understand the role played by the coupling on the coolant flow evolution. Finally, the whole cooling circuit of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Main Combustion Chamber is analyzed in detail; in this case, the hotgas flow is described by means of experimental data of the heat transfer coefficient while the wall structure and the coolant flow behaviors are described by the coupled procedure presented in this work.