Rocket Engine Development: Flow Team

LakshanPeiris 2014-2015, 2015-2016 Rocket Engine Development, Project Learning

Rocket Engine Development has been showing significant progress at the halfway point of fall quarter. The goal at this stage in the project was to have a working computer engineered model that would have all the correct values to represent a working hybrid rocket engine. At this point we have achieved this goal. The design team has a final nozzle made of graphite that works with all the other components of the rocket, and has begun to search for a way to manufacture these parts. An injection system was designed, however there is still some deliberation over the final design of this. The thermal team has chosen the method of cooling the rocket and is in the process of running simulations to determine certain values. The flow team has finalized its material to be used for the fuel grain. Paraffin with 40% nano-grade aluminum has been chosen for the fuel grain. All significant values have been calculated for the rocket and it has been determine that the goal of 1000 lbs of thrust is achievable with the current design. However the runtime of the current rocket would be approximately 20 seconds, which falls short of the desired 30 seconds. There is going to be testing done on different fuel grains in order to see if this can be fix. As of this moment, we theoretically have a working rocket engine design.