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 experimental data has been carried out, showing an accuracy within 20 K for wall temperature and 10% for pressure drop. It is shown that the turbulence model has only a limited impact on the simulation results and that the wall function approach generates valid results. Finally, a cooling analysis is performed to compare two thrust chamber materials. A traditional copper alloy is compared to aluminium as chamber material for a small moderate-pressure oxygen/ methane engine. The analyses show that aluminium is a feasible chamber material only if a thermal barrier coating is applied. In addition, a significantly higher cooling channel pressure drop is incurred for an aluminium chamber than for a copper chamber due to the lower allowable temperature. @en

This paper describes the current developments regarding cryogenic rocket engine technology at Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE). DARE is a student society based at Delft University of Technology with the goal of being the first student group in the world to launch a rocket into space. After the launch of the hybrid engine powered Stratos II+ sounding rocket in October 2015, DARE decided to investigate highly efficient liquid rocket engine technology . In this context DARE initiated the cryogenic project with the goal of developing a liquid rocket engine using liquid oxygen and liquid methane as propellants with a nominal thrust in the order of 10kN. Eventually this engine shall power a future sounding rocket into space. As an intermediate step, a 3 kN class engine is being developed. Subsystem development tests and possibly a hot-fire test campaign on this engine are planned for 2016 and its development intends to provide DARE with the required experience and knowledge to develop large scale liquid rocket engines. The engine is developed in cooperation with Heliaq Advanced Engineering and is designed to meet the requirements of the second stage engine of the ALV reusable launch vehicle. The design is a pressure-fed engine, regeneratively cooled using the liquid methane fuel. After passing the coolant channels, the methane is injected into the combustion chamber in gaseous state together with the liquid oxygen in a co-axial manner. The engine is ignited by means of a pyrotechnic igniter using an ammonium perchlorate based propellant. During a test sequence, the propellants are stored in insulated run-tanks and are pressurized using helium. This paper describes the project objective, the current progress on the design and production, and finally four proposed research topics that are indented to be conducted at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology. @en