Low-density gas dynamic facility
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Authors
McGill, James A.
Subjects
Advisors
Zukoski, Edward E.
Date of Issue
1967
Date
1967
Publisher
California Institute of Technology
Language
Abstract
The question of optimizing nozzle contours for micro-thrust rockets led to the design, construction, and testing of a low-density gas dynamic facility. The primary objective was to investigate the mass flow rates of a gas through various profiles in the slip and transition flow regimes at high pressure ratios. An initial test was conducted with an orifice as the test profile. The results showed that the facility can be used to investigate mass flow rates from the threshold of the free-molecule, through the transition and slip, to the continuum regimes. These results compare favorably with those of two previous investigators, and asymptotically approach the theoretical continuum and free-molecule limits. The ratio of mass flow rate to theoretical free-molecule mass flow rate is shown to transition smoothly from one theoretical limit to the other. A local maximum may occur in this ratio in the slip regime, and the attainment of the theoretical free-molecule limit appears to occur more slowly than expected.
Type
Thesis
Description
This thesis document was issued under the authority of another institution, not NPS. At the time it was written, a copy was added to the NPS Library collection for reasons not now known. It has been included in the digital archive for its historical value to NPS. Not believed to be a CIVINS (Civilian Institutions) title.
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
California Institute of Technology