An experimental investigation of heat transfer to hydrogen peroxide in microtubes

Because of its strong oxidizing properties, high density, low-toxicity and environmentally friendly decomposition products, concentrated hydrogen peroxide has regained popularity as a propellant in many rocket applications. The MEMS-based MIT micro-rocket engine is one such application where 98% liquid hydrogen peroxide and JP7 are proposed as a propellant combination. Like other micro-thrusters concepts, the MIT micro-rocket engine uses its propellants to regeneratively cool the combustion chamber and the nozzle. Although JP7 has been proven to be an effective coolant under such conditions, hydrogen peroxide becomes unstable at high temperature and may explode, thus adding a critical constraint to the cooling scheme. To address this issue, heat transfer experiments in 95 [mu]m inside diameter, 4 mm long, electrically heated stainless steel microtubes have been performed to define the stability limit and explosion condition associated with 98% hydrogen peroxide thermal decomposition. Conditions such as pressures, temperatures, heat fluxes and length scale found in the engine were replicated. Tests were conducted whereby heat transfer to the hydrogen peroxide was increased until an explosion occurred. For each test, prior to the explosion, an experimental forced convective heat transfer coefficient has been obtained and compared to standard empirical correlations. Experimental results indicate that 98% hydrogen peroxide has limited cooling capacity for a regeneratively-cooled rocket engine. Independent of pressure and mass flow, results show that a local fluid temperature of approximately 150⁰C consistently yields an explosion in stainless steel microtubes. In addition, standard macro-scale heat transfer correlations were found to significantly

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Bernier, Mathieu, 1979-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alan H. Epstein.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/27068

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/27068