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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Methane heat transfer investigation

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5758244
Future high chamber pressure LOX/hydrocarbon booster engines require copper-base alloy main combustion chamber coolant channels similar to the SSME to provide adequate cooling and resuable engine life. Therefore, it is of vital importance to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics and coking thresholds for LNG (94% methane) cooling, with a copper-base alloy material adjacent to the fuel coolant. High-pressure methane cooling and coking characteristics were recently evaluated using stainless-steel heated tubes at methane bulk temperatures and coolant wall temperatures typical of advanced engine operation except at lower heat fluxes as limited by the tube material. As expected, there was no coking observed. However, coking evaluations need be conducted with a copper-base surface exposed to the methane coolant at higher heat fluxes approaching those of future high chamber pressure engines.
Research Organization:
Rockwell International Corp., Canoga Park, CA (USA). Rocketdyne Div.
OSTI ID:
5758244
Report Number(s):
N-85-12318; NASA-CR-171199
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English