Rockets are the only transport aircraft that can carry things and people into space. In the future, it is necessary to further improve the performance and reliability of rockets in order to expand the use of space such as space travel. Rockets are designed to the limit to achieve about 4 times the power and 30 times the speed of passenger planes. Our laboratory conducts research on such rockets, especially on the combustor system of liquid rocket engines. Japan's rocket engine development has changed from the era of trial and error to the era of front loading, which is fully studied at the initial stage. Elucidation of the phenomenon is indispensable for this front loading, and in our laboratory, we will proceed with research focusing on the basics unique to the university, but always useful for actual rockets. In the future, we are also aiming to develop into fields other than engine combustors and rocket system research.

Research on combustion phenomena of liquid rocket engine combustors
In recent years, liquid rocket engine combustors inject fuel and oxidizer from hundreds of coaxial double circular tubes (called elements) and burn them. In this research, one element of the combustor is taken out, and the fluid phenomenon and combustion phenomenon occurring on the spot are studied in detail. The research elucidates the phenomenon that is actually occurring by visualizing the cold flow (gas flow state without combustion) and the combustion state. The performance of the liquid rocket engine largely depends on the shape of this small element, and experiments are conducted with dimensional variations and shapes as parameters. In addition, CFD analysis will be conducted to elucidate the phenomenon from both experimental and analytical aspects, contributing to the development of high-performance, high-reliability liquid rocket engines in the future. In the future, we will also aim to elucidate the combustion vibration phenomenon that is important and has not been elucidated in liquid rocket engines.

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Introduction of Mako Hiroyasu