Kahl'Zun
New Member
King of all cardboard
Posts: 19 
|
Post by Kahl'Zun on Oct 8, 2016 13:59:08 GMT
Hi all!
I have been playing around with nuclear engines, and have noted the regenerative cooling slider doesn't seem to do much. Now, i am aware that it will cool down the engine bell if it is overheating, but i can't seem to find any downsides to it, and no reason why you would not have it at 100% all the time.
Does it have some effect which is not shown in the editor? Is the excess fuel discarded? Does it increase your overall heat signature?
Thanks for any information,
Sam.
|
|
foof
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by foof on Oct 8, 2016 17:14:42 GMT
Hi! Solid Core Nuclear Thermal Rockets put in contrast to chemical rockets not so much thermal stress on the engine.  Source: Temperature gradient in a nuclear thermal rocket nozzle.Regenerative cooling has some downsides in real life like increased manufacturing costs or hydrogen embrittlement.But afaik there are no downsides to regenerative cooling in the game. No, that would be extremely wasteful, if you set the slider to 20% for example the fuel flow is split up 80% would go directly into the injector and the other 20% go through the engine bell to cool it down and then into the injector. There are a bunch of effects that could influence the thermal signature but again I don't think that the game simulates that. Besides compared to the reactor and the exhaust plume the effect would probably neglectable. You may also want to check out Project Rho they have excellent and understandable information on nuclear rockets and spaceflight in general. They also have a section on space warfare.  |
|
Kahl'Zun
New Member
King of all cardboard
Posts: 19
|
Post by Kahl'Zun on Oct 9, 2016 11:14:36 GMT
Hi foof!
Thanks for your reply. I am aware of what the purpose of regenerative cooling is normally, i was just wondering what game effect it had.
From the fact the numbers don't change when its added to an engine,, and that noone has said otherwise, there seems to be no downside to having the regenerative cooling on 100% all the time.
|
|
foof
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by foof on Oct 10, 2016 11:32:22 GMT
I found two issues yesterday, engines with regenerative cooling can handle less chamber pressure, only a couple of MPa. And secondly engines with thick chamber walls (> 1cm) can crack from thermal expansion stress. I think I will run a couple of tests to see if I made a mistake. Edit: forgot the quote  |
|
