Andrzej Nowicki's Ice Gun Page doesn't tell us much about ramjet aerophysics. I must make do with this: Combustion of 1 ton of oxygen is sufficient to heat up 5 tons of hydrogen to 2000 K.
I'll bring in some other maths: 2 bar of gas in a 4π-meter tube: 3.04 tonnes of hydrogen per kilometer (or 3.04 kg/m). 3.04 tonnes per second, to rise as the speed rises; consuming 608 kg/km of oxygen, partly from the ramjet's tank and maybe from the ambience also. We'll talk about the ambience later.
At 32 (molecular) g/mol that consumes 19 kmol/km of oxygen gas into water - once added to 38 kmol of hydrogen gas. 76 kg/km of ambient hydrogen gas is consumed. 684 kg/km of 2000 K steam is expelled within the remainder 2964 kg/km of hydrogen.
This tube at 1800 δK against 200 K ice will do - something, to that ice. A pressure-cooker effect will be at play around 200 δK, I think. I don't really care, honestly; I just know our ice cave is at risk of distortion and needing remaking after our run. His nod to thermodynamics is to reinforce the back breech
of the ice with steel, and the rest of it with - er - The New York Times. This just passes the distortion past the "Society" page.
The tunnel should have steam-vents every 10 km or so to the surface. There's no real value in recovering hydrogen but I'll suggest burning it, just to keep most of it to cover our barrel under ice.
No comments:
Post a Comment