As present trends in rocket engine development recommend overall simplicity and reliability as the main design driver, while preserving high performance, expander cycle engines based on the oxygen-methane pair have been considered as a possible upper stage option. A closed expander cycle is considered for Vega Evolution upper stage, while there are no studies published in the literature on methane-based expander bleed cycles. A basic cycle analysis is presented to evaluate the performance of an oxygen/methane expander bleed cycle for an engine of 100 kN thrust class. Results show the feasibility of the system and its peculiarities with respect to the better known expander bleed cycle based on hydrogen.
Basic analysis of a LOX / methane expander bleed engine / Leonardi, Marco; Nasuti, Francesco; Onofri, Marcello. - ELETTRONICO. - (2017). (Intervento presentato al convegno 7 TH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE FOR AERONAUTICS AND AEROSPACE SCIENCES (EUCASS) tenutosi a Milano nel 3-6 luglio 2017) [10.13009/EUCASS2017-332].
Basic analysis of a LOX / methane expander bleed engine
Marco Leonardi;Francesco Nasuti;Marcello Onofri
2017
Abstract
As present trends in rocket engine development recommend overall simplicity and reliability as the main design driver, while preserving high performance, expander cycle engines based on the oxygen-methane pair have been considered as a possible upper stage option. A closed expander cycle is considered for Vega Evolution upper stage, while there are no studies published in the literature on methane-based expander bleed cycles. A basic cycle analysis is presented to evaluate the performance of an oxygen/methane expander bleed cycle for an engine of 100 kN thrust class. Results show the feasibility of the system and its peculiarities with respect to the better known expander bleed cycle based on hydrogen.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
