Experimental Research of the Ignition Characteristic of the Gas Generator With Air/ Lf80-01 Propellant Combination

Abstract

The ignition characteristic of the gas generator with Air/ Lf80-01 propellant combination is studied by experimental investigation in the paper. The results indicate that the ignition performance could be improved by adopting oxygen as the oxidizer instead of air or decreasing the water fraction in fuel for different propellant combination. The reason of the ignition difficulty of the gas generator is that it is difficult to stabilize the flame. Nozzle throat area, injectors’ structure, flameholders and operation parameters affect the flame stabilization of the gas generator. The capability of stabilizing the flame of the gas generator could be improved by decreasing the nozzle throat area, improving injectors’ atomization performance and fixing the V-gutter in combustion chamber, whereas it is helpless to stabilize flame by fixing the disturbing ring in combustion chamber. The capability of stabilizing the flame of the gas generator has close relation with total mass flow rate while little relation with the excess oxidizer coefficient. I. Introduction S the key subassembly of the ejector system, gas generator is widely applied in such fields as high altitude simulation experimental facility of the rocket engine, ground experimental system of the ramjet engine, pressure recovery system and vacuum simulation system1,2. The propellant of the gas generator in the paper is Air/Lf80-01 combination, where Lf80-01 is a special liquid fuel containing water. must be completed during The startup process of the gas generator includes 2 sub processes, i. e. the ignition as well as the flame propagation and flame stabilization. The torch igniter is adopted for ignition since its combustion gas has relative high temperature and energy. The research indicates that the fuel could be ignited successfully as soon as it goes into the combustion chamber when the torch works normally. However, the phenomenon often happens that gas generator extinguishes quickly after the torch is cut off during the ignition process. How to improve the ignition performance is the main problem of the gas generator.