Hybrid Rocket Bench Modular Design

Following the injector work, this project was about building a proper test bench for the hybrid rocket engine program at Ecole Centrale Paris. The previous setup was rigid — every time you wanted to change an engine parameter, you had to rebuild half the rig.

The idea was to make something modular: swap out injectors, change chamber lengths, test different fuel grain geometries, all without starting from scratch each time.

The bench was designed to support both cold flow testing (for characterizing injectors and feed systems) and hot fire testing (live combustion with instrumentation). It included a thrust measurement system with a load cell, an oxidizer feed line with controllable valves, and modular mounting points for different engine configurations.

I led the first six months of this project — the initial design phase and early construction. The bench continued to evolve after that with subsequent student teams.