Photographic Study of Combustion in a Rocket Engine (NACA (NASA) Research Memorandum)

Motion pictures at camera speeds up to 3000 frames per second were taken of the combustion of liquid oxygen and a hydrocarbon fuel in a transparent-sided rocket engine. This 100-lbf thrust engine consisted basically of metal contour and injection plates clamped between two plastic sheets. This design provided an essentially two-dimensional engine with a view of the entire chamber. Various injectors, parallel jets, and impinging jets, were used to study varied types of combustion. Photo measurements of gas velocities provide data for calculating combustion temperatures. An unusually informative study, of special interest to experimental amateur rocket engineers.