The Qualification and Acceptance Testing of Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thrusters

Open Access
- Author:
- Morgan, Kara Lee
- Area of Honors:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Philip John Morris, Thesis Supervisor
Philip John Morris, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- propulsion
hydrogen peroxide
peroxide
rocket
space
aerospace - Abstract:
- A critical first step in the development of any rocket-powered flight vehicle is the validation of its engines. The testing described in this thesis evaluates the performance of four hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thrusters for use on a vertically-constrained terrestrial flight vehicle. By extensively testing operational limits, behavioral trends, efficiency, and maximum output, new engines must be thoroughly characterized to verify that they meet mission requirements. Equally as important, the command voltages to the throttle valves must be mapped to their corresponding thrust output to establish a control profile for each individual engine. These early developmental stages, performed with individual engines on a static test stand, are referred to in this context as qualification and acceptance testing. Qualification aims to push the operational limits of one representative test article in order to build a complete profile of its capabilities and characteristics. These findings are used as a baseline in acceptance testing, in which the three identical test articles are similarly characterized to verify that all engines in the set perform comparably and meet the standards required of flight, and to establish their own unique throttle profiles. From the analysis of qualification and acceptance testing, one test article was found to perform significantly worse than the other three in the set. Additionally, all four engines demonstrate decaying thrust output during steady state operation, a behavioral trend that can be resolved in future test campaigns by increasing the supply flow rate of pressurant gas. Despite these issues, all engines demonstrated deep throttling capacity and safe and reliable operation. With the characterization based on data analysis and the validation of operational practices, it is determined that the hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thrusters are suitable for integration with a rocket-powered flight vehicle.