A Numerical Study on Sensitivity of Acoustic Response to Pressure Oscillations in Liquid Rocket Engine

Acoustic responses to pressure oscillations in axisymmetric combustion chamber are numerically investigated to examine the qualitative trend of acoustic instability in liquid rocket engine. Chamber operating condition and excitation frequency of oscillating pressure are selected as exciting parameters of acoustic instability. Artificial perturbation is simulated by total-pressure oscillation with sine wave at chamber inlet. Many approximations and simplifications are introduced without losing the essence of acoustic pressure response. First, steady-state solution for each operating condition is obtained and next, transient analysis is conducted. Depending on operating condition and excitation frequency, the distinct response characteristics are brought. Weak-strength flames and high-frequency excitation tend to cause sensitive acoustic pressure response leading to unstable pressure field. These results are analyzed based on the correlation with acoustic pressure responses from the previous works adopting laminar flamelet model.