More-Accurate Model of Flows in Rocket Injectors

An improved computational model for simulating flows in liquid-propellant injectors in rocket engines has been developed. Models like this one are needed for predicting fluxes of heat in, and performances of, the engines. An important part of predicting performance is predicting fluctuations of temperature, fluctuations of concentrations of chemical species, and effects of turbulence on diffusion of heat and chemical species. Customarily, diffusion effects are represented by parameters known in the art as the Prandtl and Schmidt numbers. Prior formulations include ad hoc assumptions of constant values of these parameters, but these assumptions and, hence, the formulations, are inaccurate for complex flows.