Research

Patrick Harkness
Krzysztof Bzdyk
Kostas Kontis
Kevin Worrall

Our project objectives

The University of Glasgow operates the MachLab rocket test stand at Machrihanish. This site can accommodate 10kN engines, with liquid and cryogenic propellants.

Our own research activities at MachLab include:

1. Autophage engine development, which is type of rocket engine that consumes its own fuselage for propellant. This minimises the dry mass of the vehicle at all times, and could serve to enable smaller launch systems.
2. Topology optimised cooling systems, which is the idea that pre-burnt propellant can be best used to cool the engine when algorithms are deployed to optimise its path and contact profile.
3. Gelled propellants, which produce less slosh but which may be more difficult to atomised for combustion. We are investigating whether we can use ultrasonic vibration to facilitate flow through injectors.
4. Turbopump optimisation, seeking to maximise the pressure rise as propellants enter the combustion chamber while reducing the systems footprint on the engine overall.

Our project methodology

The mainstay of our research activity is the Rocket Research, Teaching, and Training CDT (r2t2.org.uk) which is led from at Glasgow. This network of twenty PhD projects (with ten planned to add each year) is based at sites all across the UK, with the students coming together for training programmes, hot-fire experiments, and practical learning.

Our project achievements

Watch an autophage rocket test, at MachLab, here: