CFD Analysis of Square Flow Channel in Thermal Engine Rocket Adventurer for Space Nuclear Application

Solar system exploration relying on chemical rockets suffers from long trip time and high cost. In this regard nuclear propulsion is an attractive option for space exploration. The performance of Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NTR) is more than twice that of the best chemical rocket. Resorting to the pure hydrogen (H2) propellant the NTRs can possibly achieve as high as 1,000 s of specific impulse (Isp) representing the ratio of the thrust over the fuel consumption rate, as compared to only 425 s of H2/O2 rockets. If we reflect on the mission to Mars, NTRs would reduce the round trip time to less than 300 days, instead of over 600 days with chemical rockets. This work presents CFD analysis of one Fuel Element (FE) of Thermal Engine Rocket Adventurer (TERA). In particular, one Square Flow Channel (SFC) is analyzed in Square Lattice Honeycomb (SLHC) fuel to examine the effects of mass flow rate on rocket performance