Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Cooling Channel of the Liquid Rocket Engine Thrust Chamber

The turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer in a regenerative-cooling channel of the liquid propellant rocket engine were numerically investigated by solving three-dimensional elliptical Navier-Stokes equations.The coolant is hydrogen,whose thermal properties such as thermal conductivity,density,dynamic viscidity etc.are varied with both temperature and pressure.The specific heat of hydrogen and thermal properties of solid metal are varied with temperature only.The standard κ-ε turbulent model and gas-solid coupled technique was adopted.The results show that both the highest temperature of hydrogen and the maximal wall heat fluxes at the hot-gas side occur at the throat region,and the maximal cross-sectional temperature gradients of the solid region occur close to the hot-gas side.In addition,the secondary flow is generated near the throat region perpendicular to the main flow,the highest heat flux and convective heat transfer coefficient of gas-solid coupled interface also occur at throat region.