Rocket science explained

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a liquid rocket engine simulator and imaging techniques that can help explain the cause of explosive sound waves in rocket engines.

It is believed that such waves are created by energy supplied by the combustion process and that they have been responsible for many catastrophic rocket failures.

The Georgia Tech research team was able to clearly demonstrate that the phenomenon manifests itself in the form of spinning acoustic waves that gain destructive power as they rotate around the rocket’s combustion chamber.

'This is a very troublesome phenomenon in rockets,' said Ben Zinn, the David S. Lewis Jr. Chair and Regents’ Professor in the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. 'These spinning acoustic oscillations destroy engines without anyone fully understanding how these waves are formed. Visualising this phenomenon brings us a step closer to understanding it.'

During past investigations into this damaging instability, scientists were able to observe initial stages of the problem but were forced to shut down engines before the waves could fully develop and cause serious damage to the engine. Researchers were also hindered by their inability to clearly observe the complex processes inside the investigated rocket engines.