MODELLING OF PARAFFIN-BASED FUEL COMBUSTION IN HYBRID ROCKETS

With the aim of characterizing the behaviour of paraffin-based fuels for hybrid rocket application, research activities are currently ongoing at University of Naples “Federico II” by means of experimental testing and numerical modelling. In the present work, first the results of an experimental campaign performed on a laboratory-scale hybrid rocket engine of 200 N class, with gaseous oxygen and paraffin-fuel grains, are presented. The relatively vast quantity of the collected data supported the definition, tuning and validation of proper computational fluid dynamic numerical models for the prediction of the fuel consumption behaviour. After that, effects of grain geometrical dimensions on the fuel regression rate are investigated, starting from preliminary considerations obtained for the case of a classical polymeric fuel and then extending the study to the case of paraffin-based fuel.