Colloquium: Maximilian Pfohl (Space Flight)

As the space industry expands, environmental considerations become increasingly important, especially regarding the propulsion systems that launch satellites into space and control their position in orbit. Since traditional satellite propellants like hydrazine are highly toxic, there is an increased demand for green substitutes like hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide exothermically decomposes into gaseous water and oxygen and thus is used in bipropellant thrusters in either a staged or unstaged configuration. While previous works were either experimental or focused on staged thrusters with a catalyst bed, this thesis looked at a numerical approach to model unstaged engines, which save mass by adding the catalyst directly to the fuel, making it hypergolic. A set of models to simulate the decomposition and combustion of hydrogen peroxide with kerosene and a catalyst was identified and validated. Different hydrogen peroxide concentrations and oxidiser/fuel ratios were simulated to analyse the influence on performance and chamber loads.

Supervisor: B.V.S. Jyoti