Performance and Emission Imaging of a Coaxial Single Element GO2/GCH4 Rocket Combustion Chamber

The present work aims to study a rectangular single-element combustion chamber performances by using methane and oxygen as propellants. Sensors were applied to the combustion chamber to detect useful parameters, in order to calculate performance indicies of rocket through a MATLAB code. Furthermore, an optical window is present to allow an ICCD Camera to take pictures of flame to investigate the flame emissions: this is a non-intrusive optical diagnostic technique which takes the name of Chemiluminescence Imaging. The camera sensor used is covered by an optical filter which makes radicals OH^* visible. From data collected by camera, it is possible to deduce how OH^* concentration affects changes in brightness and hence how the mixing evolves in different cases. In particular, eight cases have been performed: four tests with 10 bar pressure in combustion chamber, letting the mixture ratio to vary from 2.2 to 3.4, with 0.4 steps, and other four tests with the same ROFs but with 20 bar pressure in combustion chamber. Every picture captured is processed to improve its quality by eliminating errors and noise due to acquisition, in order to facilitate the extraction of experimental data. Finally, results obtained from the performance study and emission imaging will be compared and discussed.