Fuel rich combustion chamber

Fuel-rich propellants (FRPs) with high metal content find use in ram-rockets which operate with the combustion of fuel-rich hot gases generated in the primary chamber or combustor and ram air inducted from atmosphere to a secondary chamber or combustor for full combustion. The rocket system where energy for propulsion is derived in such a manner is termed an integrated rocket-ramjet (IRR). The major benefit of a ram-rocket is substantial reduction in the weight of rocket or missile as the oxidizer need not be carried along with the propellant fuel. Fuel-rich propellant formulations for ram-rockets consist of metal fuels, binder... 

The diesel engine operates, inherently by its concept, at variable fuel-air ratio. One easily sees that it is not possible to attain the stoichiometric ratio because the fuel never diffuses in an ideal manner into the air for an average equivalence ratio of 1.00, the combustion chamber will contain zones that are too rich leading to incomplete combustion accompanied by smoke and soot formation. Finally, at full load, the overall equivalence ratio... 

The steam generator is a balanced draft, controlled circulation, multichamber unit which incorporates NO control and final burnout of the fuel-rich MHD combustion gases. The MHD generator exhaust is cooled in a primary radiant chamber from about 2310 to 1860 K in two seconds, and secondary air for afterburning and final oxidation of the gas is introduced in the secondary chamber where seed also condenses. Subsequent to afterburning and after the gas has been cooled down sufftciendy to soHdify condensed seed in the gas, the gas passes through the remaining convective sections of the heat recovery system. 

A solid propellant is a mechanical (heterogeneous) or a chemical (homogeneous, or colloidal) mixture of solid-state fuel and oxidizer-rich chemicals. Specially-formed charges of solid propellant (grains) arc placed in the combustion chamber of the solid rocket motor (SRM) at a production facility. Once assembled, the engine does not require additional maintenance, making it simple, reliable and easy to use. 

When some portion of the AP particles contained within an AP composite propellant is replaced with nitramine particles, an AP-nitramine composite propellan-tis formulated. However, the specific impulse is reduced because there is an insufficient supply of oxidizer to the fuel components, i. e., the composition becomes fuel-rich. The adiabatic flame temperature is also reduced as the mass fraction of nitramine is increased. Fig. 7.49 shows the results of theoretical calculations of and Tf for AP-RDX composite propellants as a function of Irdx- Th propellants are composed of jjxpb(0-13) and the chamber pressure is 7.0 MPa with an optimum expansion to 0.1 MPa. Both I p and T)-decrease with increasing Irdx- The molecular mass of the combustion products also decreases with increasing Irdx due to the production of Hj by the decomposition of RDX. It is evident that no excess oxidizer fragments are available to oxidize this H2. 

When a fuel-rich pyrolant burns in the atmosphere, oxygen molecules from the atmosphere diffuse into the initial combustion products of the pyrolant. The combustion products burn further and generate heat, light, and/or smoke in the atmosphere. A typical example is the combustion process in ducted rockets fuel-rich products generated in a gas generator are burnt completely in a combustion chamber after mixing with air pressurized by a shock wave that is taken in from the atmosphere. 

Fig. 12.11 shows the structure of a rocket plume generated downstream of a rocket nozzle. The plume consists of a primary flame and a secondary flame.Fil The primary flame is generated by the exhaust combustion gas from the rocket motor without any effect of the ambient atmosphere. The primary flame is composed of oblique shock waves and expansion waves as a result of interaction with the ambient pressure. The structure is dependent on the expansion ratio of the nozzle, as described in Appendix C. Therefore, no diffusional mixing with ambient air occurs in the primary flame. The secondary flame is generated by mixing of the exhaust gas from the nozzle with the ambient air. The dimensions of the secondary flame are dependent not only on the combustion gas expelled from the exhaust nozzle, but also on the expansion ratio of the nozzle. A nitropolymer propellant composed of nc(0-466), ng(0-369), dep(0104), ec(0 029), and pbst(0.032) is used as a reference propellant to determine the effect of plume suppression. The burning rate characteristics of the propellants are shown in Fig. 6-31. Since the nitropolymer propellant is fuel-rich, the exhaust gas forms a combustible gaseous mixture with the ambient air. This gaseous mixture is ignited and afterburning occurs somewhat downstream of the nozzle exit. The major combustion products in the combustion chamber are CO, Hj, CO2, N2, and HjO. The fuel components are CO and H2, the mole fractions of which at the nozzle throat are co(0.47) and iH2(0.24).

The supersonic air induced into the air-intake is converted into a pressurized subsonic airflow through the shock wave in the air-intake. The fuel-rich gas produced in the gas generator pressurizes the combustion chamber and flows into the ramburner through a gas flow control system. The pressurized air and the fuel-rich gas produce a premixed and/or a diffusional flame in the ramburner. The combustion gas flows out through the convergent-divergent nozzle and is accelerated to supersonic flow. 

Catalyst monoliths may laos be employed as catalytic combustion chambers preceding aircraft and stationary gas turbines. As shown diagramatically in Fig. 16, a catalytic combustor comprises a preheat region, a catalyst monolith unit and a thermal region. In the preheat region, a small fuel-rich flame burner is employed to preheat the fuel-air mixture before the hot gases reach the monolith unit. Additional fuel is then injected into the hot gas stream prior to entry to the monolith where... 

Hybrid Rocket Propellants. A special proplnt combination of unlike materials, particularly of unlike physical characteristics. Typical hybrid proplnt combinations are a solid fuel (or oxidizer) in combination with a liquid oxidizer (or fuel) in tjiat order. Sometimes a grain of solid fuel is encased in the combustion chamber of a rocket engine and burned in combination with liq oxygen. Similarly, a liq fuel may be injected into a combustion chamber in contact with a solid oxidizer. Another example is the use of concentrated hydrogen peroxide and a hydrocarbon fuel. In this case, the hydrogen peroxide is converted by decompn into a hot gas contg oxygen. The fuel is injected downstream of the first reaction, mixed with the hot oxidizer-rich gas, and burns (Ref 1)... 

Smoke (carbon) formation, which apparently is due to incomplete combustion of portions of the fuel-air mixture (i.e., rich combustion), also can pose a serious public relations problem at civilian airports and, by radiant-heat transfer from incandescent carbon particles, can shorten the endurance life of combustion-chamber liners and adjacent parts (0). Smoke would also constitute a serious problem in the case of automotive gas turbines, because accumulation of carbon and other nonvolatile fuel components on the intricate passages of the heat exchanger could reduce turbine and heat-exchanger efficiency by reducing heat-transfer rate and increasing the pressure drop across the... 

The results of several rocket engine investigations are summarized as the variation of characteristic velocity with mixture ratio and are compared with the predicted values based on equilibrium combustion in figure m-A-1. Greater than theoretical performance is obtained at fuel rich mixture ratios while considerably less than theoretical performance is reported at oxidizer rich mixture ratios. The results cannot be dismissed as the consequences of poor injection technique, poor mixing, or insufficient reaction time (L ), especially with the observation of greater than theoretical performance. At near stoichiometric mixture ratios and at chamber pressures of about 300 psia, performance in terms of characteristic velocity is near the theoretically predicted value. 

Other observations of the reaction of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide substantiate the production of non-equilibrium combustion products. Non-equilibrium product concentrations were found in combustion gases extracted from a small rocket combustion chamber through a molecular beam sampling device with direct mass spec-trometric analysis (31) (39). Under oxidizer rich conditions excessive amounts of nitric oxide were found under fuel rich conditions excessive amounts of ammonia were found. A correlation between the experimentally observed characteristic velocity and nitric oxide concentration exists (40). Related kinetic effects are postulated to account for the two stage flame observed in the burning of hydrazine droplets in nitrogen dioxide atmospheres (41) (42). 

The physical and chemical properties of synthetic crudes are different from those of petroleum. Increased NO and soot production are the principal problems of the combustion of synthetic fuels, and control concepts for these two problems are in conflict. Fuel-rich combustion decreases NO but augments soot production, while fuel-lean combustion decreases (and can eliminate) soot production but augments NO emissions. Moreover, control procedures can affect combustion efficiency and heat-transfer distribution to the chamber surfaces. Table I, taken from Grumer (6), illustrates some specific relevant properties of synthetic liquid fuels and petroleum-based fuels. The principal differences between these fuels as related to their combustion behavior are summarized in Table II. 

Figure 6.20. Cross-section schematics of reactors used for fullerene synthesis. Shown are (a) a reduced-pressure fuel-rich pyrolytic chamber, and (b) a benchtop modified arc evaporation system. Reproduced with permission from (a) Hebgen, R Goel, A. Howard, J. B. Rainey, L. C. Vander Sande, J. B. Proc. Combust. Inst 2000,28,1397, Copyright 2000 Elsevier, and (b) Scrivens, W. A. Tour, J. A. J. Org. Chem. 1992,57, 6932. Copyright 1992 American Chemical Society.

In these engines, fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber, forming fuel-rich and fuel-lean regions. The overall combustion mixture is typically lean. These engines operated over a wide range of in-cylinder combustion regimes. 

A car drives on the road at full speed, so the exhaust gas has a rich composition. Suddenly the driver removes his foot from the accelerator the amount of oxygen in the combustion chamber immediately jumps up, and the amount of fuel injected decreases. The exhaust gas changes from rich to lean conditions, so... 

Since the mass flow rate of the supersonic air induced from the air intakes is dependent on the flight speed and altitude of the projectile, the mixture ratio of the air and the fuel-rich gas changes. In some cases, the mixture is too air-rich or too fuel-rich to burn in the secondary combustion chamber, i.e., the mixed gas no longer within the flammability limits (see Section 3.4.3 in Chapter 3) and no ignition occurs (see Section 3.4.1 in Chapter 3). In order to optimize the combustion in the secondary combustion chamber under various flight conditions, a variable flow rate system is attached to the gas flow control system. 

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