Rocket Engine Nozzle CFD Simulation Training

Description

Rocket Engine Nozzle, CFD Simulation ANSYS Fluent Training

Description

The present simulation is about the rocket engine nozzle via ANSYS Fluent. A rocket engine nozzle is a type of propellant nozzle. This means that the internal energy of the gas is converted into a driving force and forms a high-velocity fluid jet.

This nozzle is used in rocket engines to expand and accelerate the gases produced by burning fuels in propellants. The exhaust gases exit the nozzle at supersonic speed.

The operating mechanism of these missile nozzles is that the gases enter them at subsonic speeds. As the path becomes narrower, the gas is forced to accelerate until the throat section (with the lowest cross-sectional area), where the linear velocity of the flow to the speed of sound arrives.

The cross-sectional area increases again after passing through the throat area, and the gas expands. This linear velocity rises continuously to the point that its speed exceeds the sound velocity.

The present geometry is designed in a 2D model via Design Modeler. The computational zone is the interior of a rocket engine nozzle, the initial part of which is convergent-divergent and has a throat area.

The mesh of the present model has been done via ANSYS Meshing. Mesh is done unstructured, and the number of production cells is equal to 69342.

Rocket Engine Nozzle Methodology

In this project, we use the Density-based solver. The gas flow inside the rocket is compressible, and its density value is based on the ideal gas. The gas stream enters the rocket nozzle with a gauge pressure of 2268000 Pascal and exits at a gauge pressure of 39365 Pascal.

Rocket Engine Nozzle Conclusion

After calculation, 2D contours related to temperature, pressure, velocity, density, and enthalpy and 2D streamline are obtained.

The contours show that the gas flow accelerates significantly after passing through the throat area. This means that when the gas flow reaches the throat area, its speed increases and its pressure is broken due to the reduction of the cross-sectional area.