Multiphysics Simulation of a Novel Concept of MEMS-based Solid Propellant Thruster for Space Propulsion

This work analyzes a novel MEMS-based architecture of submillimeter size thruster for the propulsion of small spacecrafts,addressing its preliminary characterization of performance.The architecture of microthruster comprises a setup of miniaturized channels surrounding the solid-propellant reservoir filled up with a high-energetic polymer.These channels guide the hot gases from the combustion region towards the nozzle entrance located at the opposite side of the thruster.Numerical simulations of the transient response of the combustion gases and wafer heating in thruster firings have been conducted with FLUENT under a multiphysics modelling that fully couples the gas and solid parts involved.The approach includes the gas-wafer and gas-polymer thermal exchange,burnback of the polymer with a simplified non-reacting gas pyrolysis model at its front,and a slip-model inside the nozzle portion to incorporate the effect of gas-surface and rarefaction onto the gas expansion.Besides,accurate characterization of thruster operation requires the inclusion of the receding front of the polymer and heat transfer in the moving gas-solid interfaces.The study stresses the improvement attained in thermal management by the inclusion of lateral micro-channels in the device.In particular,the temperature maps reveal the significant dependence of the thermal loss on the instantaneous surface of the reservoir wall exposed to the heat flux of hot gases.Specifically,the simulations stress the benefit of implementing such a pattern of micro-channels connecting the exit of the combustion reservoir with the nozzle.The results prove that hot gases flowing along the micro-channels exert a sealing action upon the heat flux at the reservoir wall and partly mitigate the overall thermal loss at the inner-wall vicinity during the burnback.The analysis shows that propellant decomposition rate is accelerated due to surface preheating and it suggests that a delay of the flame extinction into the reservoir is possible.The simulated operation of the thruster concept shows encouraging performance.

Analysis of Viscous Heating in a Micro-Rocket Flow and Performance

Micro-rockets for propulsion of small spacecrafts exhibit significant differences with regard to their macroscale counterparts,mainly caused by the role of the viscous dissipation and heat transfer processes in the micron-sized scale.The goal of this work is to simulate the transient operation of a micro-rocket to investigate the effects of viscous heating on the flow and performance for four configurations of the expanding gas and wafer material.The modelling follows a multiphysics approach that solves the fluid and solid regions fully coupled.A contin- uum-based description that incorporates the effects of gas rarefaction through the micro-nozzle,viscous dissipa- tion and heat transfer at the solid-gas interface is presented.Non-equilibrium is addressed with the implementa- tion of a 2nd-order slip-model for the velocity and temperature at the walls.The results stress that solid-fluid cou- pling exerts a strong influence on the flowfield and performance as well as the effect of the wafer during the first instants of the transient in micro-rockets made of low and high thermal conductivity materials.