Numerical simulations of water spray on flame deflector during the four-engine rocket launching

Abstract

This paper aims to study on the cooling effect with two types of water spray nozzle on the flame deflector during the four-engine launch vehicle take-off. To accurately simulate the two-phase flow of the rocket gas with multispecies and the water spray, the three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations, discrete ordinates methods and realizable k-Ɛ turbulence model are used to establish the rocket supersonic plumes impact model. The Eulerian dispersed phase (EDP) model was used to simulate the water spray into the exhaust gas. The accuracy and effectiveness of the gas-liquid flow model are verified by a good agreement between simulation results and experimental data. On this basis, a series of numerical simulation studies under different water injection position are performed. The results show that the high temperature regions, along the axis of engines on the deflector plate, have no significant temperature decreasing effect by water spray from the nozzles mounted on the apex of the deflector, and the high temperature converts a large quantity of water into vapor near the plume boundary, which would decrease the flow conductivity. With the cooling spray nozzle fixed directly to the deflector plate, the temperature decrease effect is obvious and the effect of thermal shock on deflector plate induced by exhaust plume is reduced, so that it can prevent the flame deflector from thermal ablation. The study results provide indepth information and engineering guidance for designing the water spray systems and increasing the safety of the launch process.