ME 804(A) Propulsion Engineering

College of Engineering, Adoor

May 2015
Thrust Vector Control
Ignition
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
Combustion Instability
 THRUST VECTOR CONTROL (TVC)
• In addition to providing a propulsive force to a flying vehicle, a rocket propulsion system can
provide moments to rotate the flying vehicle and thus provide control of the vehicle's attitude
and flight path
• By controlling the direction of the thrust, it is possible to control a vehicle's pitch, yaw, and
roll motions
• Thrust vector control is effective only while the propulsion system is operating and creating
an exhaust jet
• Aerodynamic fins (fixed and movable) continue to be very effective for controlling vehicle
flight within the earth's atmosphere
• Even though aerodynamic control surfaces provide some additional drag, their effectiveness
in terms of vehicle weight, turning moment, and actuating power consumption is difficult to
surpass with any other flight control method
• Vehicle flight control can also be achieved by a separate altitude control propulsion systems
 THRUST VECTOR CONTROL (TVC)
Use of TVC
• Wilfully change a flight path or trajectory
• Rotate the vehicle or change its attitude during powered flight
• Correct for deviation from the intended trajectory or the attitude during
powered flight
• Correct for thrust misalignment of a fixed nozzle in the main propulsion
system during its operation, when the main thrust vector misses the vehicle's
center of gravity
THRUST VECTOR CONTROL (TVC)

• Pitch moments are those that raise or

lower the nose of a vehicle
• yaw moments turn the nose sideways
• roll moments are applied about the main
axis of the flying vehicle
THRUST VECTOR CONTROL (TVC)
• Usually, the thrust vector of the main rocket
nozzle is in the direction of the vehicle axis
and goes through the vehicle's center of
gravity
• Thus it is possible to obtain pitch and yaw
control moments by the simple deflection of
the main rocket thrust vector; however, roll
control usually requires the use of two or
more rotary vanes or two or more separately
hinged propulsion system nozzles
• The side force and the pitch moment vary as
the sine of the effective angle of thrust
vector deflection
TVC MECHANISMS WITH A SINGLE NOZZLE

 Mechanical deflection of the nozzle or thrust chamber

 Insertion of heat-resistant movable bodies into the exhaust jet; these
experience aerodynamic forces and cause a deflection of a part of the
exhaust gas flow
 Injection of fluid into the side of the diverging nozzle section, causing
an asymmetrical distortion of the supersonic exhaust flow
 Separate thrust-producing devices that are not part of the main flow
through the nozzle
TVC MECHANISMS WITH A SINGLE
NOZZLE
TVC MECHANISMS WITH A SINGLE
NOZZLE
TVC MECHANISMS WITH A SINGLE NOZZLE
TVC MECHANISMS WITH MULTIPLE NOZZLE
IGNITION DEVICES
• The release of the chemical energy stored in liquid rocket propellants
can be initiated by a number of methods
• Selection of an ignition system depends on
• nature and phase of the propellants (Bi propellants or Mono propellants)
• need for altitude start
• need for restart
• system safety
• compatibility of the ignition method with overall engine design
• weight and space considerations
IGNITION DEVICES
• All ignition methods, particularly those for bipropellant systems, have one
overriding requirement in common: minimum ignition delay
• If the propellants entering the combustion chamber are not promptly
ignited, explosive mixtures can form and detonate with damaging results
• The assurance of faultless ignition is dependent on
• selection of the ignition method
• quality of design
• adequate heat release
• integrity of the ignition system hardware
IGNITION DEVICES
• A successful ignition is the outcome of matching conditions of
propellant mass flow rates and mixture ratio and initiation energy in
time and in space
• However, the ignition of a rocket engine also has to be smooth with
negligible pressure peaks to reduce the risk of triggering combustion
instabilities or damaging the cooling channels
• Combustion chamber pressure peaks may cause a partial blockage of
the propellant flow inside the chamber yielding extinction or damage
the turbo pumps
IGNITERS
• Igniters are defined as devices or assemblies which release heat and
thus initiate the reaction of the main propellants
• Igniters derive their power from an outside source or from a limited
amount of energy stored internally as propellants
IGNITERS
Pyrotechnic Igniters
• These are electrically initiated slow burning
pyrotechnic torches
• They can be compared to slow-burning fire
crackers, somewhat modified for rocket
engine application
• Burning time is in the range of a few seconds,
typically from 2 to 10 seconds, depending up
on engine requirements
• Pyrotechnic igniters can be mounted to the
thrust chamber on the injector face, through
the injector from the manifold side or inserted
from below at the end of wooden/plastic rod
IGNITERS
Pyrotechnic Igniters

• For better heat distribution, multiple units firing in

different directions have been used, as a rule radially
outward from the center across the injector face

• Pyrotechnic igniters are initiated by electrically triggered

squibs that initiates ignition on the igniter propellants

• Low voltage was used earlier designs

• Newer designs which are designed to fire from higher

power supplies provide good protection against
inadvertent firing

• A number of electrical firing concepts represent options

in designing to the require reliability and safety

• Exploding bridge wires and laser initiators provide very

safe pyrotechnic igniters
Pyrotechnic Igniters
Pyrotechnic Igniters
• Checkout of the integrity and readiness of pyrotechnic igniters is difficult

• It is one of the inherent shortcomings of solid propellant igniters that they cannot be switched on briefly for
checkout and then stopped again. Assurance of their reliability, therefore, is by statistical and sampling
methods.

• In many operational designs, the pyrotechnic igniters frequently do not ignite the main propellants directly,
but ignite a pilot flame fed by a small portion of the main fuel

• The pilot flame then ignites the main propellants. To achieve adequate heat release for modern large engines,
their size becomes impractical

• Also, ejection of their inert parts can cause damage to the delicate thin-walled tubes of modern chamber walls

• Under cryogenic conditions, they have exhibited a tendency to cause ignition delays, complete duds, or
explosive popping
IGNITERS
Hypergolic Igniters/Hypergolic Slugs/Auxiliary Fluid
Ignition

• The term "hypergolic" was coined by the German chemist

Noeggerath about 1942 and is composed of elements of
the Greek words for "high energy liquid."

• The term now denotes a bipropellant combination which

ignites spontaneously when the two components meet

• Their use permits a substantial simplification of the

engine system through elimination of the entire ignition
system, leaving entry timing the only functional
requirement

• A number of hypergolic main propellant combinations

have been in successful operational use for many years

• This gain however, is not entirely without penalties

IGNITERS
Hypergolic Igniters/Hypergolic
Slugs/Auxiliary Fluid Ignition
• The practical hypergolic propellant
combinations have a somewhat limited specific
impulse
• Furthermore, some are highly corrosive and/or
pose handling and storage problems which the
engine designer has to consider
• Hypergolic propellants suffer from ignition
delays at low temperatures
• A more advanced technique of using the
hypergolic effect for main-propellant ignition
is through use of a hypergolic slug
IGNITERS
Hypergolic Slugs
• In this design, a small amount of fluid, which is hypergolic with one of the
main propellants, but not with the other, is used
• The fluid is stored in a cylindrical cartridge which has burst diaphragms at
either end
• The cartridge, in turn, is loaded into a housing which is part of a bypass line
paralleling a high pressure main propellant feed line
• The combustion of nitric acid and some organic fuels can be initiated by the
introduction of a small quantity of hydrazine or aniline at the beginning of
the rocket operation
IGNITERS
Hypergolic Slugs
• Liquids that ignite with air (zinc diethyl or aluminium tri-ethyl), when
preloaded in the fuel piping, can accomplish a hypergolic ignition
• The hypergolic slug is truly a single-start device. Adaptation to
repeated starts would be complex and would require vehicle mounting,
thus adding inert flight weight
• Because of relative bulkiness, the hypergolic slug is not recommended
for small units such as gas generators, where pyrotechnic igniters or
spark plugs are preferred
IGNITERS
Spark Plugs
• Spark plug ignition has been used
successfully on liquid oxygen-gasoline
and on oxygen-hydrogen thrust chambers,
particularly for multiple starts without
servicing or overhaul
• Spark plugs and their supporting
electronics have been developed to high
levels of efficiency and reliability for
liquid rocket engine use
• Spark plugs can be used in direct
applications or to ignite propellants in a
pre-combustor or torch device
IGNITERS Spark Plugs
• The latter concept is preferred, to ensure
propellant ignition at controlled, low flow rate
conditions, to allow starting the igniter before
introduction of main propellants and to
provide a controlled environment for the plug,
following ignition, to protect the plug tips
• Direct spark systems, in which the spark plug
directly ignite the propellants, are not usable
for all applications and require careful design
to ensure acceptable ignition without
potentially damaging pressure spikes
• For direct ignition, they are confined to
relatively small combustion devices
IGNITERS
Spark Torch/Augmented Spark Ignition System
• The limitation of direct spark ignition in providing a
widespread ignition source or spark plasma,
withstanding spark quenching in gas generators and
in surviving main combustor operating conditions led
to the design and development of Spark Torch
Ignition system or Augmented Spark Ignition system
(ASI)
• This design consists of a small igniter combustion
chamber built next to the main combustion chamber
and connected through an orifice
• A small amount of fuel and oxidizer is injected into
the igniter combustor and is ignited by the spark plug
• The burning mixture enters the main combustion
chamber and ignites the larger main propellant flow
which is injected into the main combustor
IGNITERS Spark Torch/Augmented Spark Ignition System
• High thermal conductive materials such as copper alloys
are typically used in fabrication of the igniter injectors
• The nozzle tube assembly is manufactured from stainless
steel or comparable low thermal conductivity materials.
• The igniter is capable of an unlimited number of starts,
including ignition at high altitudes
• The igniter can operate over a wide range of propellant
inlet flow rates, mixture-ratios and pressure conditions
• Following ignition of the igniter propellants, the spark
system is turned off and the torch continues to operate
during the start transients and throughout main stage
• Igniter propellant flow rates of approximately 0.1 to 0.3
percentages of the main propellant flow rates have been
proven adequate for the large engines
IGNITERS Catalysts
• In a general sense, catalysts are not igniters but initiators
and sustains reactions, which themselves remain unchanged
during these reactions
• In rocketry, catalysts have been used predominantly to
initiate and sustain the composition of monopropellants
notably that of hydrogen peroxide
• Installation of this igniter is similar to an augmented spark
igniter
• Because of the need for relatively elaborate timing, valving
and interlocking devices, the use of liquid catalysts was
soon found to be cumbersome and undesirable
• Application of solid catalysts, therefore, as they were being
used for underwater torpedoes, led to design and
development work toward use of these systems for rocket
application
IGNITERS Catalysts

• These systems offer great versatility, storability, and extreme

simplicity, including throttling to low levels and restart ability

• More recently, it has been successfully demonstrated that catalytic

operation offers a simple alternative to augmented spark ignition for
hydrogen/oxygen systems

• The concept is simple requiring only the feeding of a mixture of

gaseous hydrogen and oxygen through a properly designed catalyst
bed

• Catalyst for Hydrogen and Oxygen include Iridium, Palladium and

Platinum

• Component igniters have been designed and tested and catalytic

igniter has been used to start large thrust chambers

• In a process patented for Engelhard Industries, Newark, N. J., a

gaseous mixture of oxygen and hydrogen is fed through a catalyst
bed of palladium-impregnated alumina (Al2O3) pellets, by which
the mixture is ignited
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
• The primary objective of cooling is to prevent the chamber and nozzle walls
from becoming too hot, so they will no longer be able to withstand the
imposed loads or stresses, thus causing the chamber or nozzle to fail
• Most wall materials lose strength and become weaker as temperature is
increased
• With further heating, the walls would ultimately fail or even melt
• Cooling thus reduces the wall temperatures to an acceptable value
• Cooling also helps to reduce the oxidation of the wall material and the rate
at which walls would be eaten away
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
• The rates of chemical oxidizing reactions between the hot gas and the
wall material can increase dramatically with wall temperature
• This oxidation problem can be minimized not only
• by limiting the wall temperature
• by burning the liquid propellants at a mixture ratio where the percentage of
aggressive gases in the hot gas (such as oxygen or hydroxyl) is very small
• by coating certain wall materials with an oxidation- resistant coating; for
example iridium has been coated on the inside of rhenium walls
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
• Thrust chambers usually have provisions for cooling some or all metal parts
coming into contact with hot gases, such as chamber walls, nozzle walls,
and injector faces
• Internal cooling passages, cooling jackets, or cooling coils permit the
circulation of a coolant
• Jackets can consist of separate inner and outer walls or of an assembly of
contoured, adjacent tubes
• The inner wall confines the gases and the spaces between the walls serves
as the coolant passage
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
• The nozzle throat region is usually the location that has the highest heat-
transfer intensity and is therefore the most difficult to cool
• For this reason the cooling jacket is often designed so that the coolant
velocity is highest at the critical regions by restricting the coolant passage
cross section, and so that the fresh cold coolant enters the jacket at or near
the nozzle
• While the selection of the coolant velocity and its - variation along the wall
for any given thrust chamber design depends on heat-transfer
considerations, the selection of the coolant passage geometry often depends
on pressure loss, stresses, and manufacturing considerations
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
• An axial flow cooling jacket, or a tubular wall, has a low hydraulic
friction loss but is practical only for large coolant flows (above
approximately 9 kg/sec)
• For small coolant flows and small thrust units, the design tolerances of
the cooling jacket width between the inner and outer walls or the
diameters of the tubes, become too small, or the tolerances become
prohibitive
• Therefore, most small thrust chambers use radiation cooling or
ablative materials
Cooling of Thrust Chambers
Cooling of
Thrust
Chambers

Steady-State Transient Heat USED WITH

Heat Transfer Transfer BOTH COOLING

Regenerative Ablative/Heat
Film Cooling
Cooling Sink Cooling

Radiation Thermal
Cooling Insulation
Cooling with Steady-State Heat Transfer
• The heat transfer rate and the temperatures of the chambers reach
thermal equilibrium
• This includes regenerative cooling and radiation cooling
• The duration is limited only by the available supply of propellant
Regenerative Cooling
 Regenerative Cooling
• Regenerative cooling is done by building a
cooling jacket around the thrust chamber and
circulating one of the liquid propellants
(usually the fuel) through it before it is fed to
the injector
• This cooling technique is used primarily with
bipropellant chambers of medium to large
thrust
• It has been effective in applications with high
chamber pressure and high heat transfer rates
• Also, most injectors use regenerative cooling
Regenerative Cooling
• In regenerative cooling the heat absorbed by the
coolant is not wasted; it augments the initial energy
content of the propellant prior to injection,
increasing the exhaust velocity slightly (0.1 to
1.5%)
• This method is called regenerative cooling because
of the similarity to steam regenerators
• The design of the tubular chamber and nozzle
combines the advantages of a thin wall (good for
reducing thermal stresses and high wall
temperatures) and a cool, lightweight structure
• Tubes are formed to special shapes and contours,
usually by hydraulic means, and then brazed,
welded or soldered together
• In order to take the gas pressure loads in hoop
tension, they are reinforced on the outside by high-
strength bands or wires
Radiation Cooling
• Radiation cooling is another steady-state method of
cooling
• It is simple and is used extensively in the low heat
transfer applications listed previously
• In order for heat to be radiated into space, it is usually
necessary for the bare nozzle and chamber to stick out of
the vehicle
• Since the white hot glowing radiation-cooled chambers
and/or nozzles are potent radiators, they may cause
undesirable heating of adjacent vehicle or engine
components
• Therefore, many insulation or simple external radiation
shields to minimize these thermal effects; however, in
these cases the actual chamber or nozzle wall
temperatures are higher than they would be without the
insulation or shielding
Radiation Cooling
• In radiation cooling the chamber and/or nozzle have
only a single wall made of high temperature material
• When it reaches thermal equilibrium, this wall usually
glows red or white hot and radiates heat away to the
surroundings or to space
• Radiation cooling is used with monopropellant thrust
chambers, bipropellant and monopropellant gas
generators, and for diverging nozzle exhaust sections
beyond an area ratio of about 6 to 10
• A few small bipropellant thrusters are also radiation
cooled
• This cooling scheme has worked well with lower
chamber pressures (less than 250 psi) and moderate
heat transfer rates
 Cooling with Transient Heat Transfer
• Thrust chambers with unsteady heat transfer are basically of two types
• One is a simple metal chamber (steel, copper, stainless steel, etc.) made with walls
sufficiently thick to absorb plenty of heat energy
• The common method of ablative cooling or heat sink cooling uses a combination
of endothermic reactions (breakdown or distillation of matrix material into
smaller compounds and gases), pyrolysis of organic materials, counter-current
heat flow and coolant gas mass flow, charring and localized melting
• An ablative material usually consists of a series of strong, oriented fibres (such as
glass, Kevlar or carbon fibres) engulfed by a matrix of an organic material (such
as plastics, epoxy resins or phenolic resins)
Cooling with Transient Heat Transfer
• The gases seep out of the matrix and form a
protective film cooling layer on the inner
wall surfaces
• The fibres and the residues of the matrix
form a hard char or porous coke-like
material that preserves the wall contour
shapes
• The orientation, number and type of fibre
determine the ability of the composite
ablative material to withstand significant
stresses in preferred directions
• A set of strong carbon fibres in a matrix of
amorphous carbon is a special, but
favourite type of material
Cooling with Transient Heat Transfer
• The carbon materials lose their ability to
carry loads at about 3700 K or 6200 F
• Because carbon oxidizes readily to form
CO or CO2 , its best applications are
with fuel-rich propellant mixtures that
have little or no free oxygen or
hydroxyl in their exhaust
• It is used for nozzle throat inserts
• Ablative cooling was first used and is
still used extensively with solid
propellant rocket motors
Film Cooling • This is an auxiliary method applied to chambers
and/or nozzles, augmenting either a marginal steady-
state or a transient cooling method
• It can be applied to a complete thrust chamber or
just to the nozzle, where heat transfer is the highest
• Film cooling is a method of cooling whereby a
relatively cool thin fluid film covers and protects
exposed wall surfaces from excessive heat transfer
• The film is introduced by injecting small quantities
of fuel or an inlet fluid at very low velocity through
a large number of orifices along the exposed
surfaces in such a manner that a protective relatively
cool gas film is formed
• A coolant with a high heat of vaporization and a
high boiling point is particularly desirable
 • In liquid propellant rocket engines extra fuel can
Annular Fluid Injection also be admitted through extra injection holes at
the outer layers of the injector; thus a propellant
mixture is achieved (at the periphery of the
chamber), which has a much lower combustion
temperature
• This differs from film cooling or transpiration
cooling because there does not have to be a
chamber cooling jacket or film-cooling manifolds
• In solid propellant rocket engines this can be
accomplished by inserting a ring of cool-burning
propellant upstream of the nozzle or by wall
insulation materials, whose ablation and charring
will release relatively cool gases into the boundary
layer
• Turbine discharge gas (700 to 1100°C) has also
been used as a film coolant for uncooled nozzle
exit sections of large liquid propellant rocket
engines
Annular Fluid Injection • Ejection of an annular gas layer at the
periphery of the nozzle exit, at a
temperature lower than the maximum
possible value, causes a decrease in a
specific impulse
• Therefore, it is desirable to reduce
both the thickness of this cooler layer
and the mass flow of cooler gas,
relative to the total flow, to a practical
minimum value
• A special type of film cooling, sweat
cooling or transpiration cooling, uses
a porous wall material which admits a
coolant through pores uniformly over
the surface
Thermal Insulation
• Theoretically, a good thermal insulation layer on the gas side of the chamber wall
can be very effective in reducing chamber wall heat transfer and wall temperatures
• However, efforts with good insulation materials such as refractory oxides or
ceramic carbides have not been successful
• They will not with stand differential thermal expansion without cracking
• A sharp edge on the surface (crack or flaked-off piece of insulator) will cause a
sudden rise in the stagnation temperature and most likely lead to a local failure
• Asbestos is a good insulator and was used several decades ago; because it is a
cancer causing agent, it is no longer used
Thermal Insulation
• Coating development efforts with rhenium and other materials are continuing
• Insulation or heat shields have been successfully applied on the exterior of radiation-
cooled thrust chambers to reduce the heat transfer to adjacent sensitive equipment or
structures
• With hydrocarbon fuels it is possible to form small carbon particles or soot in the hot gas
and that can lead to a carbon deposit on the gas side of the chamber or nozzle walls
• If it is a thin, mildly adhesive soot, it can be an insulator, but it is difficult to reproduce
such a coating
• More likely it forms hard, caked deposits, which can be cracked off in localized flakes
and form sharp edges and then it is undesirable
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
• If the process of rocket combustion is not controlled (by proper design), then
combustion instabilities can occur which can very quickly cause excessive
pressure vibration forces (which may break engine parts) or excessive heat
transfer (which may melt thrust chamber parts)
• The aim is to prevent occurrence of this instability and to maintain reliable
operation
• Combustion in a liquid rocket is never perfectly smooth; some fluctuations of
pressure, temperature and velocity are always present
• When these fluctuations interact with the natural frequencies of the propellant feed
system (with and without vehicle structure) or the chamber acoustics, periodic
superimposed oscillations, recognized as instability
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
• In normal rocket practice smooth combustion occurs when pressure fluctuations
during steady operation do not exceed about ±5% of the mean chamber
pressure
• Combustion that gives greater pressure fluctuations at a chamber wall location
which occur at completely random intervals is called rough combustion
• Unstable combustion or combustion instability, displays organized oscillations
occurring at well-defined intervals with a pressure peak that may be maintained,
may increase, or may die out
• These periodic peaks, representing fairly large concentrations of vibratory energy,
can be easily recognized against the random-noise background
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

CHUGGING
• Chugging, the first type of combustion instability, stems mostly from the elastic
nature of the feed systems and structures of vehicles or the imposition of
propulsion forces upon the vehicle
• Chugging of an engine or thrust chamber assembly can occur in a test facility,
especially with low chamber pressure engines (100 to 500 psia), because of
propellant pump cavitation, gas entrapment in propellant flow, tank pressurization
control fluctuations, and vibration of engine supports and propellant lines
• It can be caused by resonances in the engine feed system (such as an oscillating
bellows inducing a periodic flow fluctuation) or a coupling of structural and feed
system frequencies
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

CHUGGING

• When both the vehicle structure and the propellant liquid in the feed system have about the same natural
frequency, then force coupling can occur, not only to maintain, but also to strongly amplify oscillations

• Propellant flow rate disturbances, usually at 10 to 50 Hz, give rise to low-frequency longitudinal combustion
instability, producing a longitudinal motion of vibration in the vehicle

• This vehicle flight instability phenomenon has been called pogo instability since it is similar to pogo jumping
stick motion

• Pogo instabilities can occur in the propellant feed lines of large vehicles such as space launch vehicles or
ballistic missiles

• Analytical methods exist for understanding the vibration modes and damping tendencies of major vehicle
components, including the propellant tanks, tank pressurization systems, propellant flow lines, engines, and
basic vehicle structure
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
• In the figure, a simplified spring-mass model of a typical two-stage vehicle,
indicates the complexity of the analytical problem

• The vibrational characteristics of the assembly can be affected substantially by

designing damping into the major components or subassemblies

• Techniques for damping pogo instability include the use of energy absorption
devices in fluid flow lines, perforated tank liners, special tank supports, and
properly designed engine, inter stage, and payload support structures

• A partially gas-filled pogo accumulator has been an effective damping device; it

is attached to the main propellant feed line

• The dynamic characteristics of a propellant pump can also have an influence on

the pogo-type vibrations

• The pogo frequency will change as propellant is consumed and the remaining
mass of propellant in the vehicle changes

• The bending or flexing of pipes, joints or bellows, or long tanks also has an
influence
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

BUZZING

• Buzzing, the intermediate type of instability, seldom represents pressure perturbations greater than 5% of the
mean in the combustion chamber and usually is not accompanied by large vibratory energy

• It often is more noisy and annoying than damaging, although the occurrence of buzzing may initiate high-
frequency instability

• Often it is characteristic of coupling between the combustion process and flow in a portion of the propellant
feed system

• Initiation is thought to be from the combustion process

• Acoustic resonance of the combustion chamber with a critical portion of the propellant flow system,
sometimes originating in a pump, promotes continuation of the phenomenon

• This type of instability is more prevalent in medium-size engines (2000 to 250,000 N thrust) than in large
engines
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

SCREECHING/SCREAMING
• The third type, screeching or screaming, has high frequency
• Both liquid and solid propellant rockets commonly experience high-frequency instability during
their development phase
• Since energy content increases with frequency, this type is the most destructive, capable of
destroying an engine in much less than 1 sec
• Once encountered, it is the type for which it is most difficult to prove that the incorporated "fixes"
or improvements render the engine "stable" under all launch and flight conditions
• It can be treated as a phenomenon isolated to the combustion chamber and not generally influenced
by feed system or structure
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

SCREECHING/SCREAMING
• High-frequency instability occurs in at least two modes, longitudinal and
transverse
• The longitudinal mode (sometimes called organ pipe mode propagates along
axial planes of the combustion chamber and the pressure waves are reflected at the
injector face and the converging nozzle cone
• The transverse modes propagate along planes perpendicular to the chamber axis
and can be broken down into tangential and radial modes
• Transverse mode instability predominates in large liquid rockets, particularly in
the vicinity of the injector
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
SCREECHING/SCREAMING
• Figure shows the distribution of pressure at various time
intervals in a cylindrical combustion chamber (cross section)
encountering transverse mode instability
• Two kinds of wave form have been observed for tangential
vibrations
• One can be considered a standing wave that remains fixed in
position while its pressure amplitude fluctuates
• The second is a spinning or traveling tangential wave which
has associated with it a rotation of the whole vibratory system
• This waveform can be visualized as one in which the amplitude
remains constant while the wave rotates
• Combinations of transverse and longitudinal modes can also
occur and their frequency can also be estimated
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

SCREECHING/SCREAMING
• Energy that drives screeching is believed to be predominantly from
acoustically stimulated variations in droplet vaporization and/or mixing,
local detonations, and acoustic changes in combustion rates
• Thus, with favourable acoustic properties, high-frequency combustion
instability, once triggered, can rapidly drive itself into a destructive mode
• Invariable, a distinct boundary layer seems to disappear and heat transfer
rates increase by an order of magnitude, much as with detonation, causing
metal melting and wall burn through, sometimes within less than 1 sec
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

SCREECHING/SCREAMING
• Often the instantaneous pressure peaks are about twice as high as with stable
operation
• One possible source of triggering high-frequency instability is a rocket
combustion phenomenon called popping
• Popping is an undesirable random high amplitude pressure disturbance that occurs
during steady-state operation of a rocket engine with hypergolic propellants
• It is a possible source for initiation of high-frequency instability. "Pops" exhibit
some of the characteristics of detonation wave
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

SCREECHING/SCREAMING
• The rise time of the pressure is a few microseconds and the pressure ratio
across the wave can be as high as 7:1
• The elimination of popping is usually achieved by redesign of the injector
rather than by the application of baffles or absorbers
• Some combustion instabilities can be induced by pulsations in the liquid
flow originating in turbo pumps
• Unsteady liquid flow can be caused by irregular cavitation at the leading
edge of the inducer impellers or the main pump
 COMBUSTION INSTABILITY

Chugging Buzzing Screeching/Screaming/Squealing

Low Frequency Intermediate Frequency High Frequency
(0 to 400 Hz) (400 to 1000 Hz) (above 1000 Hz)

POGO Longitudinal Transverse

Tangential
Radial Mode
Mode

Standing Spinning
Wave Wave