Wall film cooling mechanism in liquid fuel combustion chamber containing gaseous hydrogen

Abstract

Film cooling is a crucial cooling strategy employed in liquid fuel propulsion systems to ensure safe and efficient operation of combustion chambers. The use of film cooling in a liquid fuel propulsion system is one of the most effective and practical cooling strategies. CFD simulations of a 3-D cooled injector in a 2-D configuration is used to investigate the film cooling mechanism. The study focuses on analyzing the mass fraction of species and the formation of the film along the wall leading to the nozzle. Temperature and mass fraction calculations are performed with and without film cooling. The simulations are carried out on two cases: the first case represents the scenario without film cooling, with a combustion chamber pressure of 8.00 bar, while the second case represents the scenario with film cooling, with a combustion chamber pressure of 10.82 bar. The maximum temperature observed in the first case is 3085.7K, whereas in the second case, it increases to 3120.59K. Furthermore, film cooling proves to be effective in reducing the throat heat flux by 18% compared to the case without film cooling, with a throat heat flux of 3.21MW/m2.The numerical simulation results are validated by comparing with experimental data, further enhancing the reliability and accuracy of the simulation approach. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the film cooling mechanisms and their potential applications in liquid fuel propulsion systems.