The core in a nuclear thermal rocket will operate at high temperatures and in hydrogen. One of the important parameters in evaluating the performance of a nuclear thermal rocket is specific impulse, ISP. This quantity is proportional to the square root of the propellant’s absolute temperature and inversely proportional to square root of its molecular weight. Therefore, high temperature hydrogen is a favored propellant of nuclear thermal rocket designers. Previous work has shown that one of the life‐limiting phenomena for thermal rocket nuclear cores is mass loss of fuel to flowing hydrogen at high temperatures. The hot hydrogen test facility located at the Idaho National Lab (INL) is designed to test suitability of different core materials in 2500°C hydrogen flowing at 1500 liters per minute. The facility is intended to test low activity uranium containing materials but is also suited for testing cladding and coating materials. In this first installment the facility is described. Automated data acquisition, flow and temperature control, vessel compatibility with various core geometries and overall capabilities are discussed.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Hot Hydrogen Test Facility


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM-STAIF 2007: 11th Conf Thermophys.Applic.in Micrograv.; 24th Symp Space Nucl.Pwr.Propulsion; 5th Conf Hum/Robotic Techn & Vision Space Explor.; 5th Symp Space Coloniz.; 4th Symp New Frontrs & Future Con ; 2007 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 880 , 1 ; 380-388


    Publication date :

    2007-01-30


    Size :

    9 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Design of a Hydrogen Test Facility

    Beam, Jerry E. / Chow, Louis C. / Sehmbey, Maninder S. et al. | SAE Technical Papers | 1992


    Hydrogen Peroxide Rocket Engine Test Facility Safety

    Tavasoli, K.M. / System Safety Society (U.S.) | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006


    Hydrogen Peroxide Rocket Engine Test Facility Safety

    Tavasoli, K. M. / System Safety Society | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999


    Hydrogen peroxide testing at White Sands Test Facility

    Swartz, A. / Harris, David | AIAA | 2000


    Hydrogen Peroxide Testing at White Sands Test Facility

    Swartz, A. B. / Harris, D. B. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2000