Temperature State of Noncooled Nozzle Adjutage of Liquid Rocket Engine

The increasing specific impulse of the liquid rocket engine (LRE), which is designed to operate in space or in rarefied atmosphere, is directly related to the increasing speed of the combustion gases in the outlet section of the nozzle due to increasing nozzle expansion ratio. An intensity of the convective heat transfer of LRE combustion with the supersonic part of a nozzle shell in the first approximation is inversely proportional to the cross sectional area of gas dynamic path and reduces substantially as approaching to the outlet section of the nozzle.Therefore, in case of large nozzle expansion ratio the use of modern heat-resistant materials allows us to implement its outlet section as a thin-walled uncooled adjutage. This design solution results in reducing total weight of nozzle and decreasing overall preheat of LRE propellant used to cool the engine chamber. For a given diameter of the nozzle outlet section and pressure of combustion gases in this section, to make informed choices of permissible length for uncooled adjutage, it is necessary to have a reliable estimate of its thermal state on the steady-state LRE operation. A mathematical model of the nozzle shell heat transfer with the gas stream taking into account the heat energy transfer by convection and radiation, as well as by heat conduction along the generatrix of the shell enables this estimate.Quantitative analysis of given mathematical model showed that, because of the comparatively low pressure and temperature level of combustion gases, it is acceptable to ignore their own radiation and absorption capacity as compared with the convective heat intensity and the surface nozzle radiation. Thus, re-radiation of its internal surface portions is a factor of importance. Its taking into consideration is the main feature of the developed mathematical model.