Molecular Dynamics Simulation of a Jet in a Binary System at Supercritical Environment

Area of Science:

• * Rocket propulsion and fluid dynamics.
• * Computational physics and supercritical fluid behavior.

Background:

• * High pressures and temperatures in rocket engines lead to supercritical fluid conditions.
• * Traditional computational fluid dynamics struggle with the complex properties of supercritical fluids near their critical point.
• * Molecular dynamics (MD) offers a method to simulate fluid motion at the molecular level.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To investigate the physical properties of argon-nitrogen binary systems under supercritical conditions using MD.
• * To analyze the stability of subcritical jets injected into a supercritical environment.
• * To compare MD simulation results with the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state (EOS).

Main Methods:

• * Employed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to model fluid behavior.
• * Simulated the equation of state (EOS) for argon-nitrogen mixtures with varying nitrogen concentrations.
• * Conducted simulations of subcritical nitrogen jets within a supercritical argon environment.

Main Results:

• * Nitrogen mixing ratios significantly influenced the EOS of the argon-nitrogen mixture.
• * Obtained detailed distributions of jet density and temperature.
• * Analyzed the disturbance growth rate within the shear layer of the simulated jet.

Conclusions:

• * MD simulations provide valuable insights into supercritical fluid behavior relevant to rocket engine applications.
• * The study validates MD as a tool for understanding complex fluid dynamics in extreme conditions.
• * Findings contribute to the design and optimization of large-thrust liquid rocket engines.