Computational study of propulsive performance of frozen nano-aluminum and water (ALICE) mixtures

Abstract

A computational study of the propulsive performance of frozen nano-aluminum and water (ALICE) mixtures is conducted. An Eulerian multiphase flow model is developed that accurately captures the dynamics of high-speed multiphase flow in a rocket motor. The particle size is taken to be 80 nm, and the equivalence ratio is 0.71. The governing equations are discretized using the finite volume method and solved computationally using the OpenFOAM computational fluid dynamics library. The evolution of flow, composition, and temperature fields as well as propulsive performance parameters such as thrust, specific impulse, and characteristic velocities are computed. Simulations are conducted for three different rocket motor sizes to study the effect of rocket motor size on propulsive performance. Parametric studies are conducted to probe the effects of incomplete combustion of particles and particle entrainment on the propulsive performance of ALICE propellants. A quasi-1D multiphase equilibrium mixture model is also developed to explain the model predictions as well as to guide the design of numerical experiments. New physical insights on the multiphase flow dynamics in the rocket motor are provided. The model predictions are compared with the experimental data. The likely reasons for the substandard performance of ALICE propellants are identified to be incomplete combustion of particles and inefficient entrainment of particles by the gas flow.