December 8, 2023 | Award

AIAA Best Paper Award

Visualization of the flames in a rocket combustion chamber

Jan Martin from the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion and his co-authors Dr. Wolfgang Armbruster, Dr. Michael Börner, Dr. Justin Hardi and Prof. Dr. Michael Oschwald have won the 2023 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Liquid Propulsion Best Paper Award for the scientific article "Flame-Acoustic Interaction in a Sub- and Supercritical, Single-Injector, LOX/CNG/LNG Rocket Combustor with Optical Access (AIAA 2023-1838)". The Science and Technology Forum is an AIAA scientific conference with around 2,500 international participants.

Flame radiation and acoustic measurements were carried out in a rocket combustion chamber for liquid oxygen/compressed and liquefied natural gas (LOX/CNG/LNG) with large optical access for subcritical and supercritical injection conditions. The operating conditions of this 5 MW combustion chamber are relevant for main and upper stage engines with the fuel combination LOX/methane. Their outstanding experimental work contributes to the understanding of combustion instabilities in LOX-methane rocket engines.

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