Rocket engine coaxial injector liquid/gas interface flow phenomena

Coaxial injectors are used for the injection and mixing of propellants H2/O2 in cryogenic rocket engines. The aim of the theoretical and experimental investigations presented here is to elucidate some of the physical processes in coaxial injector flow with respect to their significance for atomization and mixing. Experiments with the simulation fluids H2O and air were performed under ambient conditions and at elevated counter pressures up to 20 bar. This article reports on phenomenological studies of spray generation under a broad variation of parameters using nanolight photography and high-speed cinematography (up to 3 x 10(exp 4) frames/s). Detailed theoretical and experimental studies of the surface evolution of turbulent jets were performed. Proof was obtained of the impact of internal fluid jet motions on surface deformation. The m = 1 nonaxisymmetric instability of the liquid jet seems to be superimposed onto the small-scale atomization process. A model is presented that calculates droplet atomization quantities as frequency, droplet diameter, and liquid core shape. The overall procedure for implementing this model as a global spray model is also described and an example calculation is presented. 15 refs.