A Viscoplastic‐Damage Model for the Lifetime Prediction of Regeneratively Cooled Noozle Structures

The cooling channel wall within the combustion chamber of a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is subjected to severe operating conditions which eventually lead to the damage of the wall. The failure mode is well known as the “dog‐house” effect where the wall becomes thinner and bulges toward the interior of the chamber. Supported by the German Research Foundation, a viscoplastic‐damage model is being developed to enable a realistic description of the material behaviour under extreme cyclic thermomechanical loadings where creep and hardening phenomena might take place. (© 2010 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)