My question is, could an aerospike be cooled via diverting a very small quantity of your fuel (fuel used since it has a higher heat capacity than oxidizer and won't, you know, turn your engine into an extremely expensive visual pyrotechnic display) through a hollow spike and then having said fuel "dump" out of the end of the spike in gaseous form into the low-pressure zone almost like an afterburner? I am assuming the utilization of ethanol in a research enviroment as it can have water added into the solution to help with cooling and is easier to work with than something like liquid methane but this is not a given. 
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
5
-
1$\begingroup$ the tip of the spike is the hardest part to cool. You're flowing already heated coolant to it. $\endgroup$– user20636Commented Apr 28, 2020 at 23:36
-
$\begingroup$ Also wouldn't this cause heat to travel back to the intake, super heating the ethanol fuel? $\endgroup$– Gabriel FairCommented Apr 28, 2020 at 23:47
-
$\begingroup$ Time to do some cfd and see if it might actually be worth pursuing this. $\endgroup$– YuccaWorksCommented Apr 29, 2020 at 0:51
-
1$\begingroup$ If I understand that sketch right, you think about a "free" flow of coolant on the inner surface of the combustion chamber and the spike. This would effectively be transpirational cooling. Not sure how much of the coolant would actually reach the tip of the spike. Also, at said tip, the coolant needs to be at higher pressure than the exhaust on the outside. $\endgroup$– Everyday AstronautCommented Apr 29, 2020 at 13:41
-
$\begingroup$ Thanks for the info! $\endgroup$– YuccaWorksCommented Apr 30, 2020 at 17:03
Add a comment
|