LOX manifold tee analysis

Abstract

A 4000 Hz vibration phenomena was observed during the test firings of several space shuttle main engines (SSME). Experimental studies of this phenomena suggest that the problem might be associated with vortex shedding from the vanes within the LOX tee manifold. The objective of this study was to determine the unsteady, 3-D flow associated with these vanes by computational methods to identify and better understand the 4000 Hz vibration phenomena. A flow solver, FDNS, for the turbulent conservation equations was validated for predicting high frequency vortex dynamics and used to predict 2-D and 3-D flows within the LOX tee. 4000 Hz excitation oscillations were predicted for some flows and the entire 3-D flow structure was predicted for LOX tee flow. The complexity of the flow was revealed by this analysis, and computational methods for predicting these high frequency oscillations in future engine systems were established.