5 ms·
> Also, having both inputs already be gasses mean they mix better. This will have a tiny benefit in them burning more completely. But more importantly they'll b
by SECProto 8y ago
> Also, having both inputs already be gasses mean they mix better. This will have a tiny benefit in them burning more completely. But more importantly they'll burn better across a wider range of thrusts, which could be important for throttling down the engine for landing.
Also, and importantly for the design of the engine, it's much much easier* to computationally model the mixing of two gases, to ensure complete mixing and no combustion instability (especially when the reaction components are limited to ch4, o2, and partial- and complete-reaction products like c02, c0, h2o, oh-, ...).
* by much easier, i mean less impossible
- Symmetry 8y agoHave you seen SpaceX's talk at some NVidia conference about their homegrown Computational Fluid Dynamics simulator? It was really interesting. https://www.nextplatform.com/2015/03/27/rockets-shake-and-rattle-so-spacex-rolls-homegrown-cfd/ https://www.nextplatform.com/2015/03/27/rockets-shake-and-ra...
- SECProto 8y agoI hadnt seen that exact article, but i recall reading (or listening to a lecture) that mentions how one advantage of methane is the possibility to use CFD in design, while that was still outside the realm of possibility with RP-1 due to complexity of reactants (differing phases and many compounds)