International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)

ISSN: 2249-8958 (Online), Volume-4 Issue-5, June 2015

Design and Analysis of a Fuel Injector of a Liquid

Rocket Engine
M. Thirupathi, N. Madhavi, K. Simhachalam Naidu

ABSTRACT- the performance and stability of liquid rocket • Liquid rockets (or liquid-propellant rocket engine)
engines is determined to a large degree by atomization, mixing use one or more liquid propellants that are held in tanks prior
and combustion process. Control over these processes is exerted to burning.
through the design of the injector. Injectors in Liquid Rocket • Hybrid rockets have a solid propellant in the
Engines (LREs) are called upon to perform many functions. They
must first of all mix the propellants to provide suitable
combustion chamber and a second liquid or gas oxidiser or
performance in the shortest possible length. Suitable atomization propellant is added to permit it to burn.
and mixing must be followed, so that the size and weight of • Thermal rockets are rockets where the propellant is
pressure vessels can be minimized. The injector implementation inert, but is heated by a power source such as solar or
in Liquid Rockets determines the percentage of the theoretical nuclear power or beamed energy.
performance of the nozzle that can be achieved. A poor injector • Monopropellant rockets are rockets that use
performance causes unburnt propellant to leave the engine, only one propellant,
giving unpleasant and poor efficiency. Injectors can be as simple Decomposed by a catalyst. The most common
as a number of small diameter holes arranged in carefully monopropellants are hydrazine and hydrogen peroxide.
constructed patterns through which the fuel and oxidiser travel.
The speed of the flow is determined by the square root of the
The solid motor is used mainly as a booster for launch
pressure drop across the injectors, the shape of the hole and other vehicles. Solid motors are almost never used in space
details such as the density of the propellant. The performance of because they are not controllable. The boosters are lit and
an injector can be improved by either using a superior propellant then they fire until all the propellant has burned. Their main
combustion, increasing the mass flow rate or by reducing the size benefits are simplicity, a shell life which can extend to years
& increasing the number of orifices on the injector plate. In the as in the case of missiles and high reliability
current project, the last method is applied. The first two methods
are not applied due to exceptionally high cost of superior B. LIQUID ROCKET ENGINE
propellants & because the feed system is pressure feed and not The idea of liquid rocket as understood in the modern
pump feed. context first appears in the book The Exploration of Cosmic
Space by Means of Reaction Devices, by the Russian
I. INTRODUCTION schoolteacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. This seminal treatise
A. ROCKET ENGINES on astronautics was published in 1903, but was not
distributed outside of Russia until years later, and Russian
A Rocket engine or simply “Rocket” stored propellant mass
scientists paid little attention to it. During the 19th century,
for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are
the only known developer of liquid propellant rocket engine
reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with
experiments was Peruvian scientist Pedro Paulet, who is
Newton’s third law, since they need no external material to
considered one of the "fathers of aeronautics." However, he
form their jet, rocket engine can be used for space craft
did not publish his work. In 1927 he wrote a letter to a
propulsion as well as terrestrial uses, such as missiles. Most
newspaper in Lima, claiming he had experimented with a
rocket engines are internal combustion engines, although
liquid rocket engine while he was a student in Paris three
non-combustion forms also exists Rocket engines as a group
decades earlier. Historians of early rocketry experiments,
have the highest exhaust velocities, are by far the lightest,
among them Max Valier and Willy Ley, have given differing
but are the least propellant efficient (have the lowest specific
amounts of credence to Paulet's report. Paulet described
impulse) of all types of jet engines.
laboratory tests of, but did not claim to have launched a
These rocket engines are classified into;
liquid rocket. The first flight of a liquid-propellant rocket
• Chemical rockets are rockets powered by
took place on March 16, 1926 at Auburn, Massachusetts,
exothermic chemical reactions of the propellant.
when American professor Dr. Robert H. Goddard launched a
• Rocket motor (or solid-propellant rocket motor) is a
vehicle using liquid oxygen and gasoline as propellants. The
synonymous term with rocket engine that usually refers to
rocket, which was dubbed "Nell", rose just 41 feet during a
solid rocket engines.
2.5-second flight that ended in a cabbage field, but it was an
Manuscript published on 30 June 2015. important demonstration that liquid-fuelled rockets were
* Correspondence Author (s) possible. Goddard proposed liquid propellants about fifteen
Mudavath Thirupathi*, Master of Technology in Aerospace years earlier and began to seriously experiment with them in
Engineering, MLR Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (Telangana), India. 1921. After Goddard's success, German engineers and
N. Madhavi, Asst. Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering,
MLR Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (Telangana), India.
scientists became enthralled with liquid fuel rockets and
K.Sinhachalam Naidu, Asst. Professor, MLR Institute of Technology, designed and built rockets, testing them in the early 1930s in
Hyderabad (Telangana), India. a field near Berlin. This amateur rocket group, the VfR,
included.
© The Authors. Published by Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and
Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-
BY-NC-ND license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 223 © Copyright: All rights reserved.
 Design and Analysis of a Fuel Injector of a Liquid Rocket Engine

Wernher von Braun who became the head of the army

research station that secretly built the V-2 rocket weapon for
the Nazis. The German-Romanian Hermann Oberth
published a book in 1922 suggesting the use of liquid
propellants. After World War II the American government
and military finally seriously considered liquid-propellant
rockets as weapons and began to fund work on them. The
Soviet Union did likewise and thus begin the Space Race. A
liquid-propellant rocket or a liquid rocket is a rocket engine
that uses propellants in liquid form. Liquids are desirable
because their reasonably high density allows the volume of
the propellant tanks to be relatively low, and it is possible to
use lightweight centrifugal turbo pumps to pump the Fig 2: Self-Impinging Doublet Type
propellant from the tanks into the combustion chamber,
which means that the propellants can be kept under low
pressure. This permits the use of low-mass propellant tanks,
resulting in a high mass ratio for the rocket. Liquid rockets
have been built as monopropellant rockets using a single
type of propellant, bipropellant rockets using two types of
propellant, or more exotic tripropellant rockets using three
types of propellant. Bipropellant liquid rockets generally use
a liquid fuel and a liquid oxidizer, such as liquid hydrogen or
a hydrocarbon fuel such as RP-1, and liquid oxygen. The
engine may be a cryogenic rocket engine, where the fuel and
oxidizer, such as hydrogen and oxygen, are gases which
have been liquefied at very low temperatures.

C. INJECTORS
The injector implementation in liquid rockets determines the
percentage of the theoretical performance of the nozzle that
can be achieved. A poor injector performance causes unborn
propellant to leave the engine, giving extremely poor
efficiency. Additionally, injectors are also usually key in
reducing thermal loads on the nozzle; by increasing the
proportion of fuel around the edge of the chamber, this gives
much lower temperatures on the walls of the nozzle.

II. LITERATURE SURVEY

Injectors can be as simple as a number of small diameter
holes arranged in carefully constructed patterns through
which the fuel and oxidiser travel. The speed of the flow is
determined by the square root of the pressure drop across the
injectors, the shape of the hole and other details such as the
density of the propellant. Injectors today classically consist
of a number of small holes which aim jets of fuel and
oxidiser so that they collide at a point in space a short
distance away from the injector plate. This helps to break the
flow up into small droplets that burn more easily.

Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 224 © Copyright: All rights reserved.
 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249-8958 (Online), Volume-4 Issue-5, June 2015
propellant refers only to chemicals that are stored within the
vehicle prior to use, and excludes atmospheric gas or other
material that may be collected in operation. In rockets, the
most common combinations are bipropellants, which use two
chemicals, a fuel and an oxidiser. There is the possibility of a
tripropellant combination, which takes advantage of the
ability of substances with smaller atoms to attain a greater
exhaust velocity, and hence propulsive efficiency, at a given
temperature.The term liquid propellant embraces all the
various liquids used and maybe one of the following:
1. Oxidiser (liquid oxygen, nitric acid, etc.)
2. Fuel (gasoline, alcohol, liquid hydrogen, etc.)
3. Chemical compound or mixture of oxidiser and fuel
ingredients, capable of self-decomposition
4. Any of the above, but with a gelling agent

A. TYPES OF PROPELLANTS
The most commonly known forms of liquid propellants are
as follows:
A monopropellant contains an oxidizing agent and
combustible matter in a single substance. It may be a mixture
of several compounds or it may be a homogeneous material,
such as hydrogen peroxide or hydrazine. Monopropellants
are stable at ordinary atmospheric conditions but decompose
and yield hot combustion gases when heated or catalysed.
A bipropellant rocket unit has two separate liquid
propellants, an oxidizer and a fuel. They are stored
separately and are not mixed outside the combustion
chamber. The majority of liquid propellant rockets have been
manufactured for bipropellant applications.
A cold gas propellant (e.g., nitrogen) is stored at a very high
pressure, gives a low performance, allows a simple system
and is usually very reliable. It has been used for roll control
and attitude control.
A cryogenic propellant is liquefied gas at low temperature,
such as liquid oxygen (-183°C). Provisions for venting the
storage tank and minimizing vaporization losses are
necessary with this type.
Storable propellants (e.g., nitric acid or gasoline) are liquid
at ambient temperatures and can be stored for long periods in
sealed tanks. Space storable
Propellants are liquid in the environment of space; this
storability depends on the specific tank design, thermal
conditions, and tank pressure. An example is ammonia.
A gelled propellant is a thixotropic liquid with a gelling
additive. It behaves like jelly or thick paint. It will not spill
or leak readily, can flow under pressure, will burn, and is
safer in some respects.
B. DINITROGEN TETROXIDE (OXIDISER)
Nitrogentetroxide (or Dinitrogentetroxide) is the chemical
compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical
synthesis. It forms an equilibrium mixture with nitrogen
dioxide; some call this mixture dinitrogen tetroxide, while
some call it nitrogen dioxide. Dinitrogen tetroxide is a
powerful oxidizer. N2O4 is hypergolic with various forms of
hydrazine, i.e., they burn on contact without a separate
ignition source, making them popular bipropellant rocket
fuels.

III. PROPELLANTS
Technically, the word propellant is the general name for
chemicals used to create thrust. For vehicles, the term
Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 225 © Copyright: All rights reserved.
 Design and Analysis of a Fuel Injector of a Liquid Rocket Engine

i. Production Calculations for triplet and doublet

Nitrogen dioxide is made by the catalytic oxidation of
ammonia: steam is used as a diluent to reduce the
combustion temperature. Most of the water is condensed out,
and the gases are further cooled; the nitric oxide that was
produced is oxidized to nitrogen dioxide, and the remainder
of the water is removed as nitric acid. The gas is essentially
pure nitrogen tetroxide, which is condensed in a brine-cooled
liq

C. ORIFICE
A calibrated orifice is a restriction that is deliberately placed
into a system of pipes to set the flow rate through the system.
The orifice may be designed to produce proportional flow
(as in the jet in a carburettor), or choked flow (as in a
filtering bypass in a closed industrial cooling system, which
might be designed to pass a particular flow rate through a
filter assembly to maintain cleanliness of a closed-loop fluid
system). Many pressure gauges also use an orifice (also
called a restrictor) to limit the flow into a gauge. Since the
pressure is even throughout the system, allowing only a
small portion of the flow into the actual gauge allows it to be
in parallel with the pressure circuit and still measure
accurately. It also prevents or minimizes damage to the
gauge during pressure surges at start-up, or due to any spikes
in the system pressure.

IV. CALCULATIONS
A.TRIPLETS & DOUBLET IMPINGING INJECTOR
Assumptions:
Mass, m=3000Kg
Combustion Chamber Pressure, Pcc=100Kg/cm^2
Number of oxidizer orifice, no=160 & 80
Number of fuel orifice, nf=80
Given data:
Coefficient of discharge, Cd=0.65
Change in Pressure, ∆P=20Kg/cm^2 We also know
Density of oxidizer, ρo=1442.46Kg/m^3
Density of fuel, ρf=790Kg/m^3
Mixture ratio, r=1.98
Specific Impulse, Isp=285sec
Equating both the values, we get
Factor of safety, fs=2
Stainless Steel AISI 321:
Tensile strength-Ultimate, Su=6.322*10^7 Kg/m^2 [OR]
5.251*10^7 Kg/m^2 Tensile strength-Yield, Sy=2.447*10^7
Kg/m^2 [OR] 2.0904*10^7 Kg/m^2
Poisson’s ratio=0.27-0.30
Density of Stainless Steel AISI 321=8000Kg/m^3
Young’s modulus, E=193-200GPa

V. Impinging Angels and Design Specifications

Fig: Discharge Coefficient Chart

Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 226 © Copyright: All rights reserved.
 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249-8958 (Online), Volume-4 Issue-5, June 2015

Fig: Assembly of Triplet Impinging Injector

Fig: Impinging Angles

Here γ is replaced with θ for simplicity purpose

For θo=73.87°; θf=0
Then Tanδ=1.0002; δ=45.006°
For θo=60°; θf=0
Then Tanδ=0.732; δ=36.215° Fig: Triplet Impinging
iii. Doublet Design
For θo=45°; θf=0
Then Tanδ=0.508; δ=26.967°

For θo=30°; θf=0

Then Tanδ=0.322; δ=17.893°
For θo=15°; θf=0
Then Tanδ=0.0156; δ=8.922°
For θo=0°; θf=0
Fig: Doublet Injector Plate – Isometric
Then Tanδ=0; δ=0°

i. Triplet Design
ii.

Fig: Assembly of Doublet Impinging Injector

Fig: Triplet Injector Plate

Fig: Doublet Impinging

Fig: Injector and Feed Plate Assembly

Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 227 © Copyright: All rights reserved.
 Design and Analysis of a Fuel Injector of a Liquid Rocket Engine

VII. CONCLUSION
• The triplet impinging injector proved to be more efficient
when compared to doublet impinging injector, as the
atomization is more dense as well as the number of
droplets have increased.
• It is also observed that the streamline pattern for both
triplet impinging inector and doublet impinging injector,
the impinging angle is taken same i.e.; 30 degree between
oxidiser and horizontal axis as well as fuel and horizontal
axis.
• The unlike triplet uses different fuel and oxidizer
VI. FLOW ANALYSIS AND STREAMLINES densities and velocities, thus being more efficient than
doublet impinging injector.

•
The unlike doublet uses different fuel and oxidizer
densities and velocities, thus being less efficient than
triplet impinging injector.
• The like triplet uses same fuel and oxidizer densities and
velocities, thus being less efficient than doublet
impinging injector.

Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 228 © Copyright: All rights reserved.
 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249-8958 (Online), Volume-4 Issue-5, June 2015

• The like doublet uses same fuel and oxidizer densities

anvelocities, thus being more efficient than triplet
impinging injector.
• The oxidizer-fuel-oxidizer (Triplet injector) orifices
have been arranged in two girds of concentric circles to
create a uniform combustion and also to keep the
minimum distance between two holes under safe limits.
The outer circular grid has 64 fuel and 128 oxidizer
holes. The inner grid has 16 fuel and 32 oxidizer holes.
So there are total of 80 fuel and 160 oxidizer holes.
• The oxidizer-fuel (Doublet injector) orifices have been
arranged in two girds of concentric circles to create a
uniform combustion and also to keep the minimum
distance between two holes under safe limits. The outer
circular grid has 64 fuel and 64 oxidizer holes. The inner
grid has 16 fuel and 16 oxidizer holes. So there are total
of 80 fuel and 80 oxidizer holes.

REFERENCES
1. Rocket Propulsion Elements, George P. Sutton, Oscar Biblarz. 7th
Edition. Wiley-Interscience, 2001
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_rocket
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_rocket_propellants#Bipropellants
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_impulse
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RD-275
6. http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/fluids/orifice.htm
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discharge_coefficient
8. http://www.nakka-rocketry.net/th_thrst.html
9. http://www.risacher.org/rocket/eqns.html
10. https://engineering.purdue.edu/~propulsi/propulsion/flow/thrcoef12.ht
ml
11. http://heroicrelics.org/info/f-1/f-1-injector.html

Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
Retrieval Number E4105064515/15©BEIESP and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
Journal Website: www.ijeat.org 229 © Copyright: All rights reserved.