Dependence of pellet shape and size on pressure drop in thrusters

Koopmans, R.-J, Shrimpton, J. S., Roberts, G. T. and Musker, A. J. (2014) Dependence of pellet shape and size on pressure drop in thrusters. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 30 (3), 775-789. (doi:10.2514/1.B35072).

Abstract

The most important parameters influencing the pressure drop over a reacting catalyst bed are analyzed using a multiphase multicomponent flow model. The model, in which the gas and liquid phases are treated as separate fluids,
simulates the flow of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide from a tank, through the injector, into the catalyst bed to the nozzle. It contains submodels to describe the interphase mass, momentum, and energy transfer occurring in the
catalyst bed, in which it is assumed there is a pellet-based catalyst structure. The main purpose is to investigate the influence of pellet shape and dimensions on the pressure drop over the bed and the required bed length. The model has
been verified and validated against experimental data and shows improved predictions of the pressure drop compared with traditionally employed pressure drop models. It is shown that cylindrical pellets with a diameter to length ratio larger than two give a lower pressure drop for a given bed length than spherical pellets. It is furthermore shown that this result is independent of the inlet mass flux and liquid volume fraction distribution and is reliable for high bed to pellet diameter ratios.

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