A Model for Thermal Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide

A one-dimensional model has been developed to investigate the thermal decomposition of rocket grade hydrogen peroxide (HP) in a stream of previously decomposed HP products. The model developed assumes steady, one-dimensional adiabatic flow and includes basic mass balances, droplet evaporation, gasphase decomposition kinetics, droplet dynamics, and control volume conservation laws. The code is adjustable for HP percent concentration for both main and secondary flows, massflow rates for both flows, and initial temperature of each. Results are shown to be consistent with prior experimental measurements. Parametric studies are presented to assess the effects of initial droplet size, secondary injectant flow, mass velocity in the primary stream, peroxide concentration, and initial liquid temperature on the decomposition process. In general, results indicate unacceptably-long decomposition distances assuming 90% HP decomposition products in the primary stream. Using 98% HP showed some improvement due to the enhanced decomposition temperature of this fluid as compared to 90% HP. Nomenclature A Duct x-sectional area CP Spec. heat of mixture =Cpvyv + Cppyp CHP Peroxide vapor concentration Dd Drop diameter H Enthalpy hv Heat of vaporization hrxn Heat of reaction K Unimolecular rate =Aoe -Ea/RuT Ea Activation energy Ao Frequency factor m& Total gas flow v m& Vapor flow rate from evaporation P Pressure T Temperature of mix Tsat Saturation temperature of HP V Velocity of gases vl Velocity of droplets l m& Local liquid flow rate x Axial distance ? Density