Analysis of supercritical methane in rocket engine cooling channels

Methane is a promising propellant for liquid rocket engines. As a regenerative coolant, it would be close to its critical point, complicating cooling analysis. This study encompasses the development and validation of a new, open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method for analysis of methane cooling channels. Validation with...

Regenerative cooling analysis of oxygen/methane rocket engines

Methane is a promising propellant for future liquid rocket engines. In the cooling channels of a regeneratively cooled engine, it would be close to the critical point. This results in drastic changes in the fluid properties, which makes cooling analysis a challenge. This thesis describes a two-pronged approach to tackle this problem. Simple and...