Propellant Feeding System of a Liquid Rocket With Multiple Engines

Abstract: Multiengine first stages are the new trend in recent rockets. Reusability and an oxygen/methane based engine complete this picture. ArianeGroup wants to develop its own rocket following these principles. This thesis presents the study of the feeding system for a seven Prometheus engine rocket. Several ways of connecting propellant tanks to engines were proposed and analyzed. Two configurations were selected and studied with more detail. One consists of a main feeding line which is then split in seven secondary lines. The other one adds one rank of pipes to reduce the number of feeding valves. Their performances were assessed according to classic space industry drivers. Furthermore, the impact of the two solutions on the efficiency of the tank was evaluated. CAD drawings and simulation models were made and could be a base for future work if one of the systems is chosen. The study shows that a falcon 9 like feeding system is performant in terms of mass and pressure losses but another cost-effective configuration is possible and gives good results.