Combustion stability characteristics of the model chamber with various configurations of triplet impinging-jet injectors

Combustion stability characteristics in actual full-scale combustion chamber of a rocket engine are investigated by experimental tests with the model (sub-scale) chamber. The present hot-fire tests adopt the combustion chamber with three configurations of triplet impinging-jet injectors such as F-O-O-F, F-O-F, and O-F-O configurations. Combustion stability boundaries are obtained and presented by the parameters of combustion-chamber pressure and mixture (oxidizer/fuel) ratio. From the experimental tests, two instability regions are observed and the pressure oscillations have the similar patterns irrespective of injector configuration. But, the O-F-O injector configuration shows broader upper-instability region than the other configurations. To verify the instability mechanism for the lower and upper instability regions, air-purge acoustic test is conducted and the photograph of the flames is taken. As a result, it is found that the pressure oscillations in the two regions can be characterized by the first impinging point of hydraulic jets and pre-blowout combustion, respectively.