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Aerospace Engineering

Doctoral Dissertations

2007

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Streaming Effects In Liquid Injection Rocket Engines With Transverse Mode Oscillations, Sean Robert Fischbach Dec 2007

Streaming Effects In Liquid Injection Rocket Engines With Transverse Mode Oscillations, Sean Robert Fischbach

Doctoral Dissertations

This research is an analytical investigation of wave interactions in a simulated liquid rocket engine with uniform injection imposed at the faceplate. Of significant interest are the secondary nonlinear flows, particularly acoustic streaming, induced by transverse wave impingement over the engine injector surface. The corresponding cylindrical chamber has a small length-to-diameter ratio with respect to solid and hybrid rockets. Given their low chamber aspect ratios, liquid thrust engines are known to experience severe tangential and radial oscillation modes more often than longitudinal ones. Experimental evidence demonstrates the production of large peak-to-trough amplitude flow oscillations along with the development of a …


Investigation Of Non-Conventional Bio-Derived Fuels For Hybrid Rocket Motors, Scott Grayson Putnam Aug 2007

Investigation Of Non-Conventional Bio-Derived Fuels For Hybrid Rocket Motors, Scott Grayson Putnam

Doctoral Dissertations

Non-conventional bio-derived fuels have been evaluated for use in hybrid rocket motors. Tests were conducted at combustion pressures in the range of 100 – 220 psig and thrust levels of 40 – 170 newtons. Beeswax was tested with oxygen as the oxidizer and showed a regression rate at least three times as high as traditional hybrid propellant combinations such as hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and liquid oxygen (LOX). This provides the promise of a high thrust hybrid rocket motor using a simple, single port geometry and overcomes the main weakness of traditional hybrid rocket motor propellants, which are low regression rates. …


A Dynamic Study Of An Earth Orbiting Tether Propulsion System, Stephen Edward Stasko May 2007

A Dynamic Study Of An Earth Orbiting Tether Propulsion System, Stephen Edward Stasko

Doctoral Dissertations

Commercial expansion beyond Earth orbit demands efficient, low cost and regular access to space that is not given by current launch systems. An alternative to rocketry has been proposed in the use of tethers as a method of in-space propulsion. One possible implementation of tether propulsion involves the use of a long, vertically oriented tether orbiting the Earth. A suborbital launch vehicle will deliver a payload to the tether’s lower tip, which will then be carried up its length by an elevator car to the upper tip, where the payload is released on a transfer orbit. The orbiting space elevator …