Experimental study on combustion characteristics of Chinese RP-3 kerosene

In order to illustrate the combustion characteristics of RP-3 kerosene which is widely used in Chinese aero-engines, the combustion characteristics of RP-3 kerosene were experimentally inves- tigated in a constant volume combustion chamber. The experiments were performed at four different pressures of 0.1 MPa, 0.3 MPa, 0.5 MPa and 0.7 MPa, and three different temperatures of 390 K, 420 K and 450 K, and over the equivalence ratio range of 0.6-1.6. Furthermore, the laminar combus- tion speeds of a surrogate fuel for RP-3 kerosene were simulated under certain conditions. The results show that increasing the initial temperature or decreasing the initial pressure causes an increase in the laminar combustion speed of RP-3 kerosene. With the equivalence ratio increasing from 0.6 to 1.6, the laminar combustion speed increases initially and then decreases gradually. The highest laminar combustion speed is measured under fuel rich condition （the equivalence ratio is 1.2）. At the same time, the Markstein length shows the same changing trend as the laminar com- bustion speed with modification of the initial pressure. Increasing the initial pressure will increase the instability of the flame front, which is established by decreased Markstein length. However, different from the effects of the initial temperature and equivalence ratio on the laminar combustion speed, increasing the equivalence ratio will lead to a decrease in the Markstein length and the stability of the flame front, and the effect of the initial temperature on the Markstein length is unclear. Further- more, the simulated laminar combustion speeds of the surrogate fuel agree with the corresponding experimental datas of RP-3 kerosene within ~10% deviation under certain conditions.

Scaling effects on combustion modes in a single-side expansion kerosene-fueled scramjet combustor

The combustion modes in two different scramjet combustors with the mass flow rates of 1.8 kg/s and 3.6 kg/s are experimentally investigated to explore the scaling effects on supersonic combustion with a Mach number 2.0 inflow.It is found that the scramjet combustor with a larger scale can broaden the flame rich blowout limit.As the Equivalence Ratio(ER)increases,the combustion in the small-scale combustor maintains in the cavity-stabilized mode,and the flamebase moves downstream along the cavity shear layer;however,the combustion in the large-scale combustor gradually transfers from the cavity-stabilized mode to the jet-wake-stabilized mode.The differences in the cavity residence time,the ignition delay time and the Damkohler number caused by different scales of the scramjet combustor are likely to account for the scaling effects on the combustion modes.

Experimental of combustion instability in NTO/MMH impinging combustion chambers

This paper presents an experimental study into dynamics of chamber pressure and heat release rate during self-excited spinning and standing azimuthal mode in NTO/MMH (nitrogen tetroxide/monomethylhydrazine) impinging combustion chambers.Nine cases including two combustion chamber configurations were conducted.The operating conditions of all unstable cases were located in the instability region according to Hewitt empirical correlation.The results show that chamber pressure oscillations keep pace with the corresponding OH*chemiluminescence intensity over the whole combustion region in the spinning and standing modes.It is indicated that the Rayleigh index is positive over the whole combustion area in all the unstable cases.A significant supersonic flame front structure of the first-order spinning mode was found in a cylindrical chamber,which means that a detonation wave could exist in the cylindrical chamber without a center body.The pressure and heat release rate oscillations at the pressure node are nonnegligible although their amplitudes are lower than those at the pressure antinode in the first-order standing mode with an annular chamber.Besides,the dominant frequency of pressure and heat release rate oscillations at the pressure node is twice as high as that at the pressure antinode.

Periodic atomization characteristics of simplex swirl injector induced by klystron effect

The atomization dynamic characteristics of a simplex swirl injector was investigated experimentally by using a hydrodynamic mechanical pulsator and the shadow photography technique. The frequency response characteristics of the fluid film and atomization fluctuations and their correlations with pressure fluctuations were obtained by using an in-house code of image processing. It is demonstrated that the klystron effect induced by periodic pressure fluctuations results in periodic liquid film fluctuation with large amplitudes, periodic superposition of droplets and reduction of the breakup length. It was found that the atomization of the simplex swirl injector only responds to the pressure fluctuation in frequency range approximately from 0 to 300 Hz, and it is particularly sensitive to pressure fluctuations at frequencies from 100 to 200 Hz. According to this experiment, the responsive frequency limitation is merely affected by injector configuration, rather than the supply line.

Periodic atomization characteristics of an impinging jet injector element modulated by Klystron effect

An experimental study on the Klystron effect of periodic injection modulated by pressure drop fluctuations on subsequent atomization is conducted. Time-resolved atomization backlit images and atomization Mie scatter images are captured by using the high speed camera. It is found that periodicity of forced atomization relies on pressure drop fluctuation amplitude and phase differences between atomization and pressure drop fluctuations relate to fluctuation frequencies. This feature of periodic atomization induced by Klystron effect corresponds to periodicities and high amplitudes of pressure fluctuations in unstable combustion chambers and chaos and low amplitudes of pressure fluctuations in stable combustions chambers. Drastically periodic varying of gross surface area of droplets with time was shown in Mie scatter images. The importance of periodic impinging jet atomization modulated by pressure drop fluctuations for acoustic liquid propellant combustion instabilities is illustrated.

Experimental research of air-throttling ignition for a scramjet at Ma 6.5

An experimental investigation on ignition characteristics with air-throttling in an ethylene-fueled scramjet under flight Ma 6.5 conditions was conducted.The dynamic process of air-throttling ignition was explored systematically.The influences of throttling parameters,i.e.,throttling mass rate and duration,were investigated.When the throttling mass rate was 45% of the inflow mass rate,ambient ethylene could be ignited reliably.The delay time from ignition to throttling was about 45–55 ms.There was a threshold of throttling duration under a certain throttling mass rate.It was shorter than 100 ms when the throttling mass rate was 45%.While a 45%throttling mass rate would make the shock train propagate upstream to the isolator entry in about10–15 ms,four lower throttling mass rates were tested,including 30%,25%,20%,and 10%.All of these throttling mass rates could ignite ethylene.However,combustion performances varied with them.A higher throttling mass rate made more ethylene combust and produced higher wall pressure.Through these experiments,some aspects of the relationships between ignition,flame stabilization,combustion efficiency,and air-throttling parameters were brought to light.These results could also be a benchmark for CFD validation.