Dynamic Model of Catalytic Decomposition of Propellants for Rocket Propulsion Applications

Department

Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering - PhD programme in Industrial Engineering - Research Area: Aerospace Propulsion

Main research activities/topics/projects

The development of reduced-order models capable of rapidly predicting the performance of catalytic beds, conducting parametric analyses, and providing interpretative indications for the preliminary sizing and design of liquid propellant rocket thrusters is of special interest to space engineers. However, not many such models have been proposed so far, probably due to the difficulty of adequately describing the complex two-phase, chemically reacting, liquid-gas-vapor flow through the catalytic bed. This is particularly true for the estimation of the dynamic behavior in the transient start-up phase. The research activities will start from the mathematical framework already developed at the University of Pisa and will be focused on the consolidation, development and validation of the reduced order model on already available experimental data at University of Pisa and in open literature.

Working language

Italian, English

Special entry requirements

Nice to have: lab experience, CFD experience, programming experience (Matlab, etc.)

Duration in months (min-max)

PhD sandwich: 6-24
Post Doc: 6-12