The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility of methane as a replacement to traditional fuels. Methane provides several advantages over fuels such as hydrogen. The LABROC VI was used to examine the performance of a small methane and oxygen rocket engine. A theoretical analysis was performed on the LABROC nozzle to compare the effects of changing the mixture ratio and the chamber pressure. The LABVIEW control program was altered to only take data due to problems with the spark plug. The hardware used within the LABROC and the procedure for operation was examined and possible problems are noted. The existing LABVIEW control program was modified to only record data. Experimental data was taken from firing the LABROC and compared to the theoretical values. To check the viability of a methane motor, a nozzle was designed that produces the approximate thrust of small, commercially available, solid rocket motors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-3734 |
| Date | 07 August 2010 |
| Creators | Coley, Lorenzo James |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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