Oxygen-Rich Combustion Experiments in LOX/GH2 Uni-Element Rocket

Research efforts are directed towards understanding specific technical issues that must be resolved to minimize the risk and cost associated with developing oxygen-rich rocket preburners. The experiments concentrate on hot-fire uni-element tests to demonstrate concepts which can be incorporated into hardware design and development. Two concepts under consideration are direct injection of propellants at high O/F (oxidizer/fuel ratio), and stoichiometric injection followed by downstream injection of LOX to achieve the high O/F. The specific results given here address the performance, ignition, combustion stability, and wall heat transfer aspects of a direct-injection swirl coaxial element design operating at high O/F.