Optimization of flow properties of hypergolic fuels for hybrid propulsion systems

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Access to space and suborbital flights are of critical importance to a broad range of fields of science andindustry. The emergence of new technologies has allowed new actors to develop smaller and morecost-effective satellites to perform the same missions. However, due to the lack of operational dedicatedlaunchers, microsatellites are often constrained to launch as secondary payloads alongside larger satellites.Chemical propulsion in the aerospace sector is currently dominated by two rocket design paradigms,differentiated by the phases of the reactants used, solid in one case and either liquid of gaseous in the other.Our partner Reaction Dynamics Lab has been pioneering a novel type of rocket propulsion technology,experimentally demonstrated recently using a static fire test. Hybrid rocket engines, where liquid or gaseousoxidizer are stored separately from the solid fuel, can bring key advantages with regards to safety withoutcompromising performance. When solid fuels rubbers are used for the fuel matrix in hybrid rocket motors, theregression rate is very low compared to solid rockets. This drawback has been partially addressed by theintroduction of the concept of liquefying solid fuels matrix. It is anticipated that the combustion efficiency ofthese motord will depend on the flow properties of the melted fuel, but the characteristics of this relationshipremained to be identified. The investigation that will be supported by this grant is aimed at identifying theeffects of the melted fuel rheological properties on the combustion efficiency of hybrid rocket motors.