T(H)RUST: applied research activities on liquid rocket propulsion at Sapienza University of Rome

As a new space race is upon us, special attention is to be given to continuous development of launchers and their enabling technologies and the relevant methods of design and analysis. The present research team faces this challenge, which addresses at the same time applied research and high education with the aim of supporting present and future developments in the field of liquid rocket engine (LRE) propulsion. Although liquid propulsion is usually considered a mature field, the number of challenges to improve practical design and analysis software is still high. Based on a long-time background in the study of LREs, the present research team is addressing low-order modeling for the study of heat transfer, stability, transient operation, performance, and testing of these rocket devices. The research approach is based on the development of suitable methodologies to keep the analysis as quick and accurate as possible, thanks to comparison with the literature data and with in-house or literature high-order numerical simulations. This general approach is illustrated with examples on the different topics and underlining what is considered a peculiarity of the present research team working at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome and named T(H)RUST (THermal Rocket propUlsion: a Sapienza university research Team). The main analyses and developments in progress by T(H)RUST are briefly described in the paper. They address high-frequency combustion instability, thrust chamber wall heat flux, cooling channels, and nozzles.