Studies for a one-dimensional reactive flow in a LOX/LH2-rocket engine nozzle with regenerative cooling system were performed, using the finite volume method, co-located grids and the GCI estimator for the discretization errors evaluation. Five physical models were employed: two one-species ones (with constant and with variable thermophysical properties) and three multi-species ones (frozen, local equilibrium and non-equilibrium flows), for which different chemical schemes were studied. The main results are: GCI can be used for the evaluation of uncertainties related to compressible flows; there are not significant differences between numerical results for six and eight species schemes; the main features of the coolant flow are little influenced by the physical model adopted; the frozen flow model, otherwise, is the preferable one by providing the upper bound for the maximum heat flux and the maximum temperature of the wall, with lower CPU time.
rocket engine; liquid propulsion; reactive flow; regenerative cooling; error estimates
