Experimental Investigation of Fuel Regression Rate of Low-Melting-Point Thermoplastic Fuels in the Altering-Intensity Swirling-Oxidizer-Flow-Type Hybrid Rocket Engine

Abstract

In this study, we developed a high-performance and high-thrust hybrid rocket motor using low-melting-point thermoplastic (LT) fuel and swirling oxidizer flow. LT fuel has excellent mechanical and adhesive properties, as well as a high regression rate compared to conventional hybrid rocket fuel. In this study, we conducted several firing tests using swirling oxidizer flow to obtain the fuel regression rate and evaluate its effects on the geometric swirl number (S_g). We determined that the average regression rate of the LT fuel with S_g = 37.3 was ~2.9 times larger than the axial flow test value. The LT fuel was more susceptible to swirling flow than polypropylene, presumably due to the different physical properties of the fuels. In the swirl flow experiment, we confirmed that the local fuel regression rate behind the fuel is uniform, and it differs from the regression rate seen in the axial flow experiment. For the range of oxygen mass flux values G_oxlo = 30–72, ṙ_loave was fitted to a conventional formula. The results of this fit suggested that the local regression rate at the head region of low-melting-point fuel, such as the LT fuel, cannot be represented only by chemical reactions; therefore, the fluid dynamics of liquefied fuel must be included in the model.