Numerical and experimental investigation of a lab-scale paraffin motor with swirled injection of gaseous oxygen

In this work the regression rate performance and flow physics of a lab-scale hybrid rocket engine burning gaseous oxygen and paraffin-based fuels are experimentally and numerically investigated. Regression rates are obtained by thickness-over-time averaging procedures and through a non-intrusive optical method enabling fuel grain port diameter tracking. A numerical rebuilding of the experimental data is performed with axisymmetric Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations, using sub-models accounting for the effects of turbulence, chemistry, radiation and fluid-surface interaction. A fairly good agreement is obtained between the numerical and experimental data.