PRAPHAUKAR RAJA K. A.

R
DEPARTMENT OF SPACE ENGG. & ROCKETRY

BIT MESRA, RANCHI

Gel propulsion
Literature review on gels
Research objective & methodology
Research findings
Conclusion

Storage
tank

Gelled state

Injector
face

Identical to
LRE

Liquid state

Combustion
process

Delivering massive payloads into orbit within

acceptable rocket size

High Is & high Id engines

Reduced vehicle hardware weight (due to less O/F)

Eradicates sloshing, boil off loses ; minimum

accidental spills, leakages, less prone to fire

UDMH + Al

Highly viscous nature of gel facilitates homogenous

dispersion of metal particles in the bulk

Is =

Tc
Mc
LH2 / LOX / Al

Metal powders are exothermic in nature

Tc

Is

Is = 280 320 s (earth storable) ; 330 s (semi cryo) ;

490 s (cryogenics)

Gel propellants
Performance of gel propellants
Flow behaviour of gel propellants
Low shear rheology
High shear rheology

Liquid propellant + Gellant

Three dimensional structure which imbibes liquid

propellant within itself
Thick semi solid in nature
Possess non Newtonian characteristics

Hydrazine

Pectin
ASPAA-II

6
0.5

UDMH

Methyl cellulose
HEC
Agar-agar

24
5.57
0.64 12

MMH

HPC
Klucel
ASPAA-II

4
1.4
1.75

RP-1

SiO2

3.5 6.5

JP-8

Fumed silica

47

IRFNA

SiO2

3 4.5

RFNA

Sodium silicate

4.25

LOX

SiO2

2-3

H2O2

SiO2

3.5

Palaszewski

LH2 / LOX / Al

Is 476 s
20 22%more payload capacity

Varghese et al

UDMH /NTO / Al

Is 316 s (O/F -1.5) ; Is 318 s (O/F - 1)

PSLV could deliver 20% more payload

Powell

MMH / NTO / Al
A-50 / NTO / Al

11.2 to 11.6 % increase in payload capacity

Kolseth

LH2 / LOX / Al

60% reduction in booster size

Gupta et al

UDMH / RFNA / Al, Mg

3.1% increase in Is
Oxidizer requirement is decreased

Munjal et al

UDMH / RFNA / Al, Mg

40% Al system gives max. Is

Non Newtonian in nature i.e. shear and time dependent

Possess pseudoplastic & thixotropic character

Shows shear thinning behaviour (viscosity reduces with shear rate)

Pseudoplastic nature

Thixotropic nature

Varma et.al

UDMH/MC + (Al, Mg)

Brookfield Viscometer

Pseudoplastic, Thixotropic

Rapp et.al

RP-1 / Al

Brookfield Viscometer

Thixotropic, Rheopectic

Teipel et.al

Nitromethane - SiO2

RH 200 rheometer

Pseudoplastic, Low yield

Arnold et. Al

JP-8 & RP-1 / SiO2

Rotational rheometer

Pseudoplastic

MMH HPC

Rotational rheometer

Pseudoplastic

Kubal et.al

RFNA SiO2

Stresstech rheometer

Thixotropic, Pseudoplastic

Jyoti et.al

Ethanol/MC + (Al, B)

HAAKE RS 600

Thixotropic, Pseudoplastic, High Yield

Dennis et.al

MMH HPC

Stresstech rheometer

Pseudoplastic

Jyoti et.al

H2O2 SiO2

HAAKE RS 600

Thixotropic, Low Yield

Paulo et.al

Pseudoplastic, Thixotropic

Gupta et al

FNA/Sodium
silicate

Customized capillary flow

meter

Varma et al

Jet A-1 / Thixicin

Rosand RH2000
capillary viscometer

Shear thinning behaviour

Fineman

MMH / Silica

Customized capillary
rheometer

Even at high shear rate (106 s-1 ), liquefaction

at injector exit was not found

Madlener et al

Jet A-1
Ethanol
Paraffin

Rosand RH2000
capillary viscometer

At high shear rate, ap is found to be more

than parent viscosity

Joshi

UDMH /HSMC

Customized capillary flow

meter

Pseudoplastic, Thixotropic

Customized orifice flow

meter

ap decreases with shear rate & with metal

loading %

Agarwal

Aniline / MC + Al

L/D ratio helps in reducing ap , high flow rates

Extensive researches on formulation of potential gelled fuels, oxidizers and their

suitable gellant % has been done

Quality and storage aspects of gels are well understood

Characterization of pure & metallized gels at low shear rates are well covered

Flow behaviour of metallized gels at high shear rate is not reported

Simulates real rocket injector conditions

Identification of required pressure drop at injector face (Mass flow rate prediction)

Aids in estimation of breakup of gel droplets into fine sprays

Flow Behaviour
knowledge

Proper Injector
design

Efficient
Atomization

Flow behaviour of Pure & Metallized UDMH Gels at high shear rates has been carried
out to study

Effect of gellant concentration & metal loading on flow behaviour

Effect of shear rate, metal concentration on apparent viscosity
Effect of injection pressure ( 1.38 MPa, 2.78 MPa, 4.14 MPa ) on flow rate
Effect of orifice diameter (0.8 mm, 1.0 mm, 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm ) (L/D 10) on attainable
apparent viscosity

High pressure feed line system

Pressure
sensors

Gel reservoir

Piston

Injector housing
with single injector
elements

Shear duration processing Arduino platform

Pressure sensors
Entry pressure (0 to 1000 psi) absolute type

Exit pressure

- (0 to 100 psi) differential type

Sensor signal processing unit

NI 6014 interface
LabVIEW platform

Shear rate, =

4 Q
R3

Shear stress, =

P Rc
2(L+L)

; Q volumetric flow rate, R capillary radius

; P' effective flow pressure, L capillary length

Apparent viscosity, ap = r * n-1 ; r reference viscosity ; n thixotropic index

Kinetic energy correction factor, ak =

(4n+2)(5n+3)
3 2n+1 2

4Q
)]
R3
c
R
d [log(P 2Lc)]

d [log(

Shear rate correction factor, b =

Base fuel : UDMH

Gellant : HSMC ( 3.5 wt. % )
Mixing time : 2 minutes
Gellation time : 60 minutes

Base fuel : UDMH

Gellant : HSMC ( 3 wt. % )
Metal powder : Al , 40 m, ( 5, 10, 15, 20 wt. %)
Mixing time : 15 minutes
Gellation time : 60 minutes

Studied using Brookfield viscometer

Helipath stand, T E bar spindle was used

Experiments performed at 28 20 C

For known shear rate, ap was calculated

0.3

3.74

0.93

1.58

1.71

2.31

0.6

2.57

0.74

1.12

1.20

1.73

1.5

1.49

0.51

1.18

1.08

1.30

1.20

0.26

1.04

0.97

0.81

0.74

0.17

0.61

0.72

0.66


Virgin gels shows more viscous nature due to
high gellant conc. (3.5 wt.%)

ap decreases with shear rate in all cases

Under the action of shear, the gel structure
breaks down & liberates the dispersion medium

Exhibits shear thinning behaviour

Virgin & metallized UDMH gels are found to be

pseudoplastic material

 = K . n

Virgin

0.4715

1.5914

5% Al

0.4128

1.0186

10% Al

0.7434

1.3614

15% Al

0.7450

1.3744

20% Al

0.5696

1.4489

Increase in K with metal loading is due

to increased cohesiveness
n value attains closer to Newtonian
character (n = 1) for highly loaded gels
With high shear rate, liquefaction of gels
can be achieved

0.5 0.5
0.5 = 0.5
+

y .

Virgin

5447.92

3734.55

5% Al

1504.28

957.964

10% Al

651.475

6231.05

15% Al

804.346

5540.72

20% Al

2480.34

4182.08

Metallized
UDMH
gels
possess
pseudoplasticity coupled with thixotropy
Increase in y is due to increase in
cohesion between fine metal particles

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.38

26.893

29.656

29.248

28.686

2.76

35.217

50.929

46.762

43.497

4.14

51.295

64.683

62.539

61.143

1.38

33.676

46.609

49.480

45.506

2.76

42.248

65.253

60.386

59.330

4.14

57.954

72.516

67.613

66.181

1.38

54.377

65.317

57.854

58.445

2.76

61.652

77.973

71.073

70.897

4.14

69.638

88.692

81.666

80.354

1.38

61.520

79.713

78.524

73.019

2.76

70.472

96.246

94.251

85.251

4.14

86.393

108.75

106.70

104.11

0.8 mm dia

1.0 mm dia

1.2 mm dia

1.4 mm dia

Q increases linearly with increase in injection

pressure (for all orifices)

For increase in orifice dia, Q increases as injection

pressure is increased

0.8

0.5382

0.6560

0.6739

0.6662

1.0

0.4438

0.3823

0.2707

0.3321

1.2

0.2033

0.2475

0.2883

0.2606

1.4

0.2712

0.2663

0.2554

0.2707

For metallized UDMH gels, Q decreases with

metal loading for same injection pressure
Flow rate increases significantly with decreasing
n value & with increasing pressure drop across
injector
For small orifice diameter, metallized UDMH gels
shifts towards Newtonian behaviour

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

6.318

1.178

6.648

1.803

6.508

1.602

6.391

1.354

8.273

0.992

11.41

1.295

10.40

1.193

9.691

1.047

12.05

0.781

14.50

1.119

13.92

0.994

13.62

0.848

4.394

1.484

6.613

1.809

8.456

1.359

6.057

1.399

5.512

1.285

9.258

1.472

10.32

1.120

7.898

1.188

7.561

1.051

10.28

1.380

11.56

1.117

8.810

1.110

6.272

1.183

6.379

1.849

5.517

1.778

5.584

1.471

7.111

1.092

7.064

1.737

6.778

1.562

6.222

1.376

8.032

1.011

8.684

1.531

7.788

1.431

7.677

1.209

3.667

1.665

5.003

2.145

5.039

1.881

3.938

2.022

4.201

1.527

6.041

1.912

6.048

1.678

4.236

1.933

5.150

1.341

6.826

1.774

6.820

1.556

5.615

1.624

ap increases with increase in orifice dia, due

to reduction in shear rate
37350

1.178

15770

1.803

17114

1.602

23074

1.354

25656 0.992

11245

1.295

11995

1.193

17326

1.047

14385

11854

1.119

10789

0.994

12953

0.848

0.781

L low shear ap (Pa. s)

H high shear ap (Pa. s)

Smaller orifice dia (0.8 mm) imposes high

shear rate, aids in drastic reduction of ap
At high shear rate, the gel structure breaks
briskly & the flow becomes easier

ap of metallized UDMH gels reduces from

104 to 10-1 Pa. s at high shear rate (105 s-1)

0.8 mm orifice dia

1.0 mm orifice dia

1.2 mm

10% aluminized UDMH gels possess high ap even at

high shear rate

As metal loading % increases, ap decreases

For lower metal loading %, gellant would swell in
available liquid fuel with lesser interruption by
metal particles
1.4 mm

0% Al

10% Al

In all cases, ap decreases linearly with shear

rate indicating absence of Newtonian
behaviour
15% Al

Metallized UDMH gels inherits both

pseudoplastic & thixotropic character

ap decreases with increase in shear rate i.e.

the trend shows shear thinning nature
20% Al

Virgin gel ; Orifice dia 1.2 mm,

Injection pressure 400 psi

Metallized gel ; Orifice dia 1.0 mm,

Injection pressure 600 psi

Smooth flow of aluminized UDMH gel is possible without clogging of injector face

Metallized UDMH HSMC gels tend to acquire Newtonian characteristics at high shear
rate, requisite gel breakup and atomization could be achieved

Under low shear rate, metallized UDMH HSMC gels behave as pseudoplastic fluid with
thixotropic character and finite yield stress

At high shear rate regime, it exhibits pronounced shear thinning behaviour

Drastic reduction of ap with high shear rate indicates that UDMH gels can be used as
gelled fuel for rocket applications

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