[AR] Re: My Cavitating Venturi

  • From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2020 17:40:48 -0400 (EDT)

On Sun, 26 Jul 2020, 1bcjolly wrote:

Ken,
Not being a liquid man there is a lot that I don't know.  Are these cavitating ventures used as metering orifices for the purpose of o/f mixture control or do they serve some other purpose? 

As Ken said, they're for maintaining constant flow despite changes in downstream conditions (within limits). Controlling mixture ratio is one application -- the Apollo LM descent engine had (variable) cavitating venturis as part of its throttling system. They can help suppress low-frequency oscillations by breaking feedback loops, since a surge in back pressure doesn't reduce the flow rate through a C.V. They can hold a catalyst's flow rate constant even as chamber pressure builds up. They can stabilize performance in an engine with an ablative throat (or a throat with a soot layer that occasionally flakes off) whose exact throat-area history isn't fully predictable. Etc. They do this without nearly as much pressure loss as a plain orifice.

Henry

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