Rocket Propulsion:
– Thrust
– Combustion & Exhaust Velocity
– Staging
Liquid bipropellant rocket engines can be categorized according to their power cycles, that is, how power is derived to feed propellants to the main combustion chamber. Described below are some of the more common types.
Gas-generator cycle: The gas-generator cycle, also called open cycle, taps off a small amount of fuel and oxidizer from the main flow (typically 2 to 7 percent) to feed a burner called a gas generator. The hot gas from this generator passes through a turbine to generate power for the pumps that send propellants to the combustion chamber. The hot gas is then either dumped overboard or sent into the main nozzle downstream. Increasing the flow of propellants into the gas generator increases the speed of the turbine, which increases the flow of propellants into the main combustion chamber, and hence, the amount of thrust produced. The gas generator must burn propellants at a less-than-optimal mixture ratio to keep the temperature low for the turbine blades. Thus, the cycle is appropriate for moderate power requirements but not high-power systems, which would have to divert a large portion of the main flow to the less efficient gas-generator flow.
As in most rocket engines, some of the propellant in a gas generator cycle is used to cool the nozzle and combustion chamber, increasing efficiency and allowing higher engine temperature.
Staged combustion cycle: In a staged combustion cycle, also called closed cycle, the propellants are burned in stages. Like the gas-generator cycle, this cycle also has a burner, called a preburner, to generate gas for a turbine. The preburner taps off and burns a small amount of one propellant and a large amount of the other, producing an oxidizer-rich or fuel-rich hot gas mixture that is mostly unburned vaporized propellant. This hot gas is then passed through the turbine, injected into the main chamber, and burned again with the remaining propellants. The advantage over the gas-generator cycle is that all of the propellants are burned at the optimal mixture ratio in the main chamber and no flow is dumped overboard. The staged combustion cycle is often used for high-power applications. The higher the chamber pressure, the smaller and lighter the engine can be to produce the same thrust. Development cost for this cycle is higher because the high pressures complicate the development process. Further disadvantages are harsh turbine conditions, high temperature piping required to carry hot gases, and a very complicated feedback and control design.
Staged combustion was invented by Soviet engineers and first appeared in 1960. In the West, the first laboratory staged combustion test engine was built in Germany in 1963.
Expander cycle: The expander cycle is similar to the staged combustion cycle but has no preburner. Heat in the cooling jacket of the main combustion chamber serves to vaporize the fuel. The fuel vapor is then passed through the turbine and injected into the main chamber to burn with the oxidizer. This cycle works with fuels such as hydrogen or methane, which have a low boiling point and can be vaporized easily. As with the staged combustion cycle, all of the propellants are burned at the optimal mixture ratio in the main chamber, and typically no flow is dumped overboard; however, the heat transfer to the fuel limits the power available to the turbine, making this cycle appropriate for small to midsize engines. A variation of the system is the open, or bleed, expander cycle, which uses only a portion of the fuel to drive the turbine. In this variation, the turbine exhaust is dumped overboard to ambient pressure to increase the turbine pressure ratio and power output. This can achieve higher chamber pressures than the closed expander cycle although at lower efficiency because of the overboard flow.
Pressure-fed cycle: The simplest system, the pressure-fed cycle, does not have pumps or turbines but instead relies on tank pressure to feed the propellants into the main chamber. In practice, the cycle is limited to relatively low chamber pressures because higher pressures make the vehicle tanks too heavy. The cycle can be reliable, given its reduced part count and complexity compared with other systems.