Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Building and Testing of a Lab-Scale Hybrid Rocket Motor For Acquisition of Regression Rate Equations
Submission Author:
Guilherme Engler , SP
Co-Authors:
THAIS ARAUJO, Leonardo Henrique Gouvêa, FERNANDO DE SOUZA COSTA, Guilherme Engler
Presenter: Guilherme Engler
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-0571
Abstract
A lab-scale hybrid rocket motor was designed, built and tested to develop a methodology to determine average fuel regression rate. Also, due to operational safety of hybrid rocket motors, propellants’ low-cost acquisition and possibility to acquire a large amount of data per experiment, leading to more accurate results, the system was intended for learning purposes. The crystal solid fuel used was polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and the combustion processes were performed with axial oxidizer injection of gaseous oxygen (GOX). A modular apparatus was developed permitting adaptation for different test conditions and data acquisitions, i.e., operates as a motor or combustion chamber. Grain sizing analysis was conducted and the optimal initial port diameter and oxidizer mass flow rate were determined. The optical data acquisitions, performed by a high-speed camera, provided a large number of information that after being processed resulted in a regression rate expression of the fuel. Comparisons with data from the literature were carried out and the regression rate obtained in this work proved to be in complete agreement. In summary, the good regression rate results allied with the facts of safe operational condition and low-cost indicated that lab-scale hybrid rocket motors should be very appropriate for educational applications.
Keywords
Rockets, Propulsion, hybrid rocket motor, PMMA, Regression Rate
