Design and validation of hydrogen peroxide/kerosene bipropellant thruster

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to set the design criteria to improve the performance of the key elements of hydrogen peroxide bipropellant thruster: catalyst bed, kerosene injector, and liquid film cooling. The dual-catalyst bed was introduced to reduce the pressure drop across the catalyst bed without accompanying degradation of the decomposition capacity. The dual-catalyst bed was designed considering the phase change of hydrogen peroxide over the catalyst bed. The experimental study on the kerosene transverse injector was conducted for improved characteristic velocity efficiency. The kerosene transverse injectors were designed in terms of spray characteristics of the kerosene column. Liquid film cooling is generally applied to storable bipropellant thruster for long-term operating. The semi-empirical model to predict the liquid coolant length was suggested by applying the hybrid combustion characteristic of hydrogen peroxide. This semi-empirical model was validated by the hot-fire tests.