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Rocket nozzle cold‐gas flow velocity measurements using laser‐induced gratings
Author(s) -
Hemmerling B.,
Neracher M.,
Kozlov D.,
Kwan W.,
Stark R.,
Klimenko D.,
Clauss W.,
Oschwald M.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of raman spectroscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.748
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1097-4555
pISSN - 0377-0486
DOI - 10.1002/jrs.946
Subject(s) - nozzle , rocket engine nozzle , mechanics , solid fuel rocket , rocket (weapon) , thrust , rocket engine , plume , mach number , flow (mathematics) , bar (unit) , materials science , optics , propellant , chemistry , aerospace engineering , thermodynamics , meteorology , physics , engineering
The heterodyne detection laser‐induced electrostrictive gratings technique was employed for characterization of a flow velocities field in the plume of a rocket nozzle. The intention of the work was to validate CFD calculations, that predict the appearance of a recirculation zone inside the flow at a certain ratio of nozzle and ambient pressures. This zone co‐exists with the side loads to the nozzle wall that were observed experimentally as transient forces during the start‐up or the shut‐down of the thrust chamber. Measurements were performed in cold‐gas flows from a subscale thrust‐optimized, parabolic nozzle. Nitrogen at stagnation pressures up to 40 bar was supplied to the nozzle. The experimental results clearly proved the existence of a recirculation zone in the flow field, in a reasonable agreement with the predictions of CFD calculations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.