SENIOR CAPSTONE DESIGN RESEARCH PROJECT: STUDY OF THE COMBUSTION OF PARAFFIN-BASED FUELS IN HYBRID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINE

Paraffin-based fuels such as paraffin, beeswax, and others are considered as an advanced fuels for Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engine (HPRE). Starting from 2010, engineering faculty/student teams were performing long-term experimental study of the combustion of pure paraffin-based fuels and paraffin-based fuels enriched by aluminum powder in the frameworks of engineering senior capstone design projects and faculty/student research. Test fixture, consisted of unique labscale HPRE, oxygen supply system, propane supply system, flow control systems, ignition system, instrumentation system and data acquisition system were designed and built. More than 130 experiments were performed aimed to study the combustion of bio-derived fuels. Dozens of regression rate formulas were obtained which are essential for the prediction and analysis of combustion parameters and calculation of HPRE thrust and specific impulse. Student-faculty teams discovered experimentally and simulated theoretically a considerable loss of unburned paraffin-based fuels and estimated the influence of these losses on the regression rates. Performing this multidisciplinary challenging project student teams faced with a variety of problems and successfully resolved them. HPRE project provided mechanical engineering students with excellent opportunity to apply their knowledge, skills, and experience from a variety of courses to the real-life design and research.