Date of Award

5-5-2025

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket (CNTR) is a very unique and complex project that necessitates the need for innovative design solutions. Despite this complexity, the team was able to produce substantial results. The focus of this project was to develop a propellant flow path for the CNTR which would allow for sufficient cooling and rotation of the fuel tube up to 10,000 RPM. The team’s design utilizes a four runner manifold to transport the hydrogen flow in the cooling jacket into the fuel tube to be used for propulsion. From the manifold, the flow enters the nozzle while maximizes the mass flow rate of the propellant and directs it at an angle to achieve optimal momentum transfer to the turbine. Solidworks and Ansys Fluent were of much use to perform the engineering analysis on the propellant flow. Through rigorous testing and redesign, the team was able to achieve a maximum fuel tube rotational speed of 8,500 RPM which would be sufficient to ensure that the liquid uranium stays against the walls of the fuel tube. From computational fluid dynamics testing (CFD), the team also concluded that the fuel tube temperature would remain sufficiently under its melting point by approximately 1000 K. Overall, the team is very satisfied with the results of the project. The results confirm that this flow path would be a feasible option for implementations in the CNTR in the future.

Comments

Team Name: Team 12

Company Sponsor: NASA

Document Reference: URI-MCE-402-012-2025

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