This study concerns the ABS-Nitrous hybrid engine development performed at Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE). DARE is a student rocketry society associated with the Delft University of Technology. Its goal is to provide hands-on experience to complement the theoretical material taught at the university's faculties. This project started during the development of DARE's Stratos IV rocket, directly after the breakup of Stratos III. A small propulsive roll control system was suggested to remedy the problem. The high-power requirement of a monopropellant system encouraged the DARE team to explore the restartable ABS-Nitrous hybrid system option as a low-power alternative. Some key features are it is non-toxic, requires no pyrotechnics for ignition, utilizes a low-power ignition source, has a simple system architecture, is restartable through a hydrocarbon seeding effect, and has consistent fuel grain production through the FDM process. It comes at a performance marginally lower than HTPB. These unique properties of 3D-printed ABS make it a suitable candidate for applications where hybrids typically are not. For example, in an engine ignition system, a satellite attitude control, orbit maintenance, or orbit transfer system; a sounding rocket roll control system, or its (restartable) main engine. This study aims to make ABS-Nitrous hybrid engines more accessible for future engineering applications by developing a validated preliminary design tool to generate the required geometry for a particular application. Different existing engineering models in literature have been collected that include models of self-pressurized propellant tank dynamics, multi-phase injection models, and several regression rate models. The infrastructure and hardware required to fire variable motor sizes are present within DARE and have been expanded and tailored for the needs of this system. 27 tests have been performed of which 10 were successfully ignited hot fires. Analysis of this data yielded some boundaries of ignitability, given insights in promoting restartability and showed a low ignition delay of 100ms at a consistent stable ignition input power. Two tests featured helical ports showcasing control of the grain burn profile. The data of the hot fires was used to validate the preliminary design tool. Modelled values for the feed system pressures and thrust output have been proven to be within ±10% of the experimental data. The validated rapid development tool enables future projects to use this concept and lower the threshold required to get started on a design while getting new students acquainted with the topic and expanding the body of knowledge.
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