Effects of combustion chamber length on ADN thruster performance

Abstract

A research on the monopropellant thruster catalytic decomposition and combustion process which based on multicomponent ADN propellant was carried on through the numerical simulation method, considering the catalytic bed flow resistance and heat storage properties of porous media. At the same time, we analyzed the effect of combustion chamber length on its performance, the results showed that, the ADN thruster based on complex physical and chemical process, the change of the combustion chamber length had great influence on the thruster performance. When the combustor length was too short, the combustion reaction was inadequate, and when the length was too long, the flow resistance became larger, and the thruster had small thrust. By comparison and analysis, when the combustor design size was 7.25 mm, the thruster could achieve better specific impulse performance, and that was benefit for design and manufacturing of the liquid propellant rocket engine.