Extinction-reignition superiority in a single-stage sounding hybrid rocket

Information visualization has been performed for researching a single-stage sounding launch vehicle with hybrid rocket engine by using design informatics. The primary objective of this study is to reveal extinction-reignition superiority, which is one of the beneficial points of hybrid rocket, for extending the downrange and the duration in the lower thermosphere. In our hybrid rocket, swirling-flow oxidizer is furnished with solid fuel; we adopt polypropylene for solid fuel and liquid oxygen for oxidizer. A multidisciplinary design optimization is implemented by using a hybrid evolutionary computation; data mining is carried out by using a scatter plot matrix to efficiently perceive the entire design space. It is consequently revealed that extinction-reignition prolongs duration although it does not provide any effects on spreading downrange. Scatter plot matrix results indicate physical mechanisms of design-variable behaviors for the objective functions and also the roles of the design variables via bird's-eye visualization of the entire design-space constitution. Furthermore, they suggest a hypothesis to extend downrange.