Experimental investigation on film cooling in a Hydrocarbon/GOX rocket combustion chamber

The understanding of the mechanisms of heat transfer and advanced cooling techniques is a key for mastering the designing of reliable and efficient rocket combustion chambers. However, the effects determining film cooling efficiency as well as influences on the combustion process itself under application-similar conditions are still insufficiently understood. The rocket combustor test facility at the Institute for Flight Propulsion (LFA) of the Technische Universität München allows testing at application-relevant combustion pressures as well as temperatures. In the past, this setup has been used for the investigation and assessment of a variety of experiments, dealing with film and transpiration cooling at moderate combustion pressures. This paper presents the latest findings from film cooling experiments at high combustion pressure and compares the results with semi-empirical models known from open literature.