An Experimental Investigation on the Steady State Heat Transfer Characteristics of Liquid Methane

Abstract

The steady state heat transfer characteristics of liquid methane (LCH4) under forced convection in a 1.8 mm x 1.8 mm square. This study is intended to understand the cooling characteristics of liquid propellants in cooling channels representative of those associated with regenerative cooled rocket engines at steady state conditions. Due to the limited data concerning the heat transfer characteristics of LCH4, in particular with square channels, a High Heat Flux Test Facility (HHFTF) was developed at the Center for Space Exploration Technology Research (cSETR). The HHFTF is designed to handle cryogenic fluids while maintaining high heat fluxes between 3.3 and 20.0 MW/m 2 . The average Nusselt number (NuD) reaches as high as 336 and average Reynolds numbers (ReD) between 1.9 x 10 4 to 1.6 x 10 5 . A Nusselt number correlation (NuO) used by NASA/Rocketdyne [1] demonstrates an over prediction primarily with Reynolds numbers in the range of 6.0 x 10 4 to 1 x 10 5 . Meanwhile, the majority of the over predictions exist between 1 x 10 5 and 1.1 x 10 5 .