Droplet size and velocity measurements in a cryogenic jet flame of a rocket-type combustor using high speed imaging

TL;DR

This study uses high-speed imaging to measure droplet sizes and velocities in a cryogenic jet flame of a rocket combustor, providing detailed spray characterization under reacting conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of high-speed shadowgraph imaging combined with PTV and PIV to analyze droplet dynamics in cryogenic rocket flames, addressing limitations of laser-based methods.

Findings

Droplet sizes and velocities were successfully measured in cryogenic conditions.

The flame influences droplet size evolution and spray behavior.

Comparison between reacting and non-reacting conditions highlights flame effects.

Abstract

Injectors of cryogenic liquid rocket engines produce large polydisperse and dense sprays due to the pressure and mass flow conditions. Atomization is the dominating process that drives the flame behaviour in cryogenic jet flames, when the propellants are injected in subcritical conditions. The main objective of this study is the characterization of a liquid oxygen (LOX) spray in gaseous hydrogen (GH2), in reacting conditions. In the breakup region where liquid particles are not spherical, laser based drop size techniques suffer from a low validation data rate, thus imaging techniques can be better suited to characterize the spray. High speed shadowgraphs were used to provide the spray characteristics such as sizes and velocities of the LOX dispersed phase atomized by a GH2 co-flow injected by a shear coaxial injector in a 1MPa combustion chamber. Cryogenic combustion investigations presented in this paper were carried out on the Mascotte test bench, at Onera. The reacting case was compared qualitatively to a cold flow test, with gaseous He instead of GH2, for which LOX spray shadowgraphs were also recorded. Velocity of the dispersed phase in reacting conditions was obtained with two different imaging methods, which were applied to the same shadowgraphs: a PTV algorithm and a PIV software, developed at Onera. Droplet sizes were measured by image processing in the atomization zone and results were compared with Sauter mean diameters obtained with phase Doppler measurements from the literature. The droplet size is combined with PTV to obtain droplet size/velocity correlations which show the influence of the flame on the droplet size evolution.