Date of Award

5-8-2023

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

Modern chemical engine technology is insufficient to fulfill humanity's aspiration to explore deep space. The 900 s Isp that Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) engines can achieve is sufficient to enable missions like manned missions to Mars. When employing a storable propellant like hydrogen, methane, ammonia, etc., extravagant missions like this call for a specific impulse of at least 900s to be successful. Consequently, High-Performance Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (HP-NTP) is necessary for space travel for it to take an acceptable length of time. A human voyage to Mars that lasts less than 15 months will be possible thanks to HP-capacity NTP's to generate a precise impulse between 1300 and 1800 seconds. The established perception of the Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket (CNTR) uses liquid uranium fuel at a temperature near 5000K to directly heat a propellant while spinning around its axis at 5000-7000 RPM. The uranium is intended to adhere to the wall as a result of centrifugal force, leaving a space for the propellant to flow through, heat up, and produce the required thrust.

Several additional engineering teams and universities in the nuclear propulsion sector are presently investigating the viability of employing HP-NTP within a CNTR. This subdivision's scope is primarily concerned with demonstrating the idea of liquid in a rotating fuel tube.

As uranium is not a realistic material to facilitate at this stage, the team focused their studies on the design as if the fuel were water. For the duration of the Fall semester, the primary work of the team consisted of the design and construction of the testing apparatus. Listed in the report are 150 concept designs developed by the team. Just before the start of the Spring semester, the apparatus was built and ready to be tested. The team spent many hours developing a motor controller to properly control and monitor the apparatus. This motor controller allowed for the data collection of the revolutions per minute at which the apparatus was spinning. When all was up and running with water in the apparatus, it was clear that the water climbed the walls of the spinning tube, creating a void region in the center. This proved the concept of the CNTR, that when a liquid is spinning in a tube at a high RPM, a void region develops for a potential propellant to pass through.

There is still much work to be done for this project that the team would strive to achieve. First, aerating the spinning tube would be satisfactory to simulate the propellant passing through the tube and would most likely be the next step. Continuously, casting an ice structure and placing it in the tube to facilitate a phase change is necessary to simulate the solid state of the uranium before start up. While only a small sliver of the CNTR was experimented with throughout this project, the work from Team 1 was of high quality and success to enable future work to be done.

Comments

Team Name: Team 01: URI-NASA I

Company Sponsor: NASA

Sponsor Representative: Michael Houts

Document Reference: URI-MCE-402-01H-2023

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