GS38 Failure Mechanism of Liquid Rocket Engine Combustion Chamber with Outer Shell : Crack Generation Mechanism in Upper Stage Engine

Abstract

In developing liquid rocket engines, life time of a combustion chamber is one of key design issues. In order to understand and predict the mechanism of failure mode caused by creep-fatigue, which is one of major risks to a combustion chamber, a new chamber life prediction methodology, based on a multi-physics two-way coupled simulation and the linear cumulative damage rule, was developed. The developed methodology was applied to a regeneratively cooled thrust chamber of an actual engine, and the deformation mechanism of creep-fatigue crack occurred around the throat during hot firing tests was investigated in detail.