Porous Injectors - The Future of Flexible LOX-Methane Rocket Engines? A Research Roadmap

This paper presents a research roadmap for porous injectors operating with liquid oxygen (LOX) and gaseous methane (CH4) in main combustion cham-bers (MCCs). A review of injection systems led to the selection of porous injectors because of high combustion efficiency on a short length, wall ther-mal compatibility, near-constant-efficiency throt-tling, simplicity, and cost-efficient manufacturing. Existing literature focuses on hydrogen (H2). CH4 experiments are sparse. The main objectives of the research are investigations of liquid breakup, flame anchoring, and combustion transients. Planned combustion experiments include varying load points up to 80 bar chamber pressure, high-speed shad-owgraphy and chemiluminescence.     «

This paper presents a research roadmap for porous injectors operating with liquid oxygen (LOX) and gaseous methane (CH4) in main combustion cham-bers (MCCs). A review of injection systems led to the selection of porous injectors because of high combustion efficiency on a short length, wall ther-mal compatibility, near-constant-efficiency throt-tling, simplicity, and cost-efficient manufacturing. Existing literature focuses on hydrogen (H2). CH4 experiments are sparse. The main objectives of the...     »