Infrared radiation characteristics of liquid oxygen/kerosene rocket engine plume with different number of nozzles

AbstractA method for calculating the liquid oxygen (LOX)/kerosene rocket engine plume infrared radiation characteristics was proposed, infrared radiation characteristics of the gas oxygen/kerosene model engine were studied by simulation and experiment, and the accuracy of the method was proved. On this basis, studies on infrared spectral radiation characteristics and infrared imaging characteristics of single- and double-nozzle 120 ton thrust LOX/kerosene engine plume were carried out. It is found that, the engine nozzle number can be determined according to infrared imaging characteristics of the engine plume at the appropriate detection angle. Compared to using 2–5 µm band, the infrared radiation imager with clearer plume structure can be obtained using the spectral band such as 2.7 and 4.3 µm bands. The change in the detection angle and the increase in the engine number will have a significant effect on the infrared radiation intensity of the LOX/kerosene engine plume, but they will not change the infr...