An analytical theory of heated duct flows in supersonic combustors

One-dimensional analytical theory is developed for supersonic duct flow with variation of cross section, wall friction, heat addition, and relations between the inlet and outlet flow parameters are obtained. By introducing a self- similar parameter, effects of heat releasing, wall friction, and change in cross section area on the flow can be normalized and a self-similar solution of the flow equations can be found. Based on the result of self-similar solution, the sufficient and necessary condition for the occurrence of thermal choking is derived. A re- lation of the maximum heat addition leading to thermal choking of the duct flow is derived as functions of area ratio, wall friction, and mass addition, which is an extension of the classic Rayleigh flow theory, where the effects of wall friction and mass addition are not considered. The present work is expected to provide fundamentals for developing an integral analytical theory for ramjets and scramjets.

Experimental study on combustion characteristics of supersonic combustor based on alternating-wedge strut

Acetone Planar Lase-Induced Fluorescence(PLIF)and OH-PLIF were employed to capture the fuel distribution and OH distribution downstream for the supersonic combustor based on the alternating-wedge strut.The combustion establishment process and combustion mode in the combustor under different fuel injection methods and different equivalence ratios were analyzed.Combined with the kerosene-PLIF and OH-PLIF results in the cavity combustor,a comparative analysis was conducted to understand the combustion characteristics and combustion modes between the alternating-wedge strut-based combustor and the cavity-based combustor.The results show that the combustor is in weak combustion mode in the case of low equivalence ratio,and the combustor is in intensive combustion mode in the case of high equivalence ratio.The lower limit of the equivalence ratio of the combustor to maintain the intensive combustion mode varies based on different fuel injection methods.The OH distribution under reacting condition has a strong correlation with the fuel distribution under non-reacting condition.The OH fluorescence signal near the injector is weaker when the fuel distribution is more concentrated.The injector position located at the base of the strut rear has better mixing performance,enabling the combustor to be in intensive combustion mode at a lower equivalence ratio.The combustion reaction in the alternating-wedge strut-based combustor is not necessarily dominated by mass transfer due to the mixing enhancement and premixed zone downstream of strut,while the combustion reaction process in the cavity-based combustor is mainly influenced by mass transfer.

Numerical study on cavity ignition process in a supersonic combustor

Large eddy simulations(LESs)of cavity ignition processes were performed in a 2 D ethylene-fueled supersonic combustor with a single rear-wall-expansion cavity based on OpenFOAM.The ethylene combustion was modelled using a 35-step with 20-specie ethylene chemical mechanism,which had been validated by CHEMKIN calculations.The effect on the ignition process of different ignition sites inside the cavity was then studied.It was found that the rear region of the cavity floor is an optimized ignition site where successful ignitions will be achieved.According to different ignition behaviors,two flame extinguishing modes could be identified:blown-off extinguishing mode and flow dissipation extinguishing mode.Blown-off extinguishing mode mainly occurred after ignition near the cavity shear layer,in which the initial flame was blown off directly due to the high speed of the supersonic core flow.Flow dissipation extinguishing mode is likely to occur after ignition near the front and middle cavity floor as a result of severe turbulent dissipations and limited chemical reactions.The study indicates that the movement routine of the initial flame is important for the ignition process,including both moving towards a favorable flow field and forming a large heat release region along the movement.

Combustion Stabilization based on a Center Flame Strut in a Liquid Kerosene Fueled Supersonic Combustor

A newly designed strut is proposed in this paper for fuel injection and flame holding in a liquid-kerosene-fueled supersonic combustor. The thickness of the strut is 8ram and the front blockage is about 8%. The characteristic of this strut is that extra oxygen can be injected through a set of orifices at the back of the strut, which can change the local flow field structure and ER （Equivalence Ratio）. Based on the above mentioned strut, a stable local flame is generated at the back of the strut and the main combustion can be organized around this local fire. Nu- merical simulation is conducted to compare the local flow field distribution at the back of the strut with/without extra oxygen injection. Experiments are conducted to test the combustion characteristics based on this fuel injec- tion and flame holding strategy. The temperature distribution which can reflect the local flame characteristic has been measured in the experiments conducted under cold incoming supersonic air flow condition. In addition, the overall combustion performance in a full-scale supersonic combustor has been evaluated in the experiments con- ducted under hot incoming supersonic air flow condition. Results show that this strut strategy is very promising since it can organize stable supersonic combustion at the center of the combustor without any cavity or rearward facing step. Besides that, even with the 8ram thick strut, the combustion can be stable in a wide range of ER from 0.25-1 by using liquid room-temperature kerosene.

Experimental Investigation of Hydrocarbon-fuel Ignition in Scramjet Combustor

The direct-connected supersonic combustor experiment is finished for kerosene fuel ignition in H_2/O_2 preheated impulse facility. The entrance parameter of combustor corresponds to scramjet flight Mach number 3.5. Kerosene ignition is realized by using hydrogen as pilot flame. Wall pressure distributions of combustion are measured and flame photographs of ultraviolet ray are got. Experiment indicates that it is very difficult for kerosene fuel to realize self-ignition at low entrance temperature (below 900K) in supersonic combustor. Hydrogen pilot flame is one of the efficient methods for realizing kerosene ignition.

Numerical simulations of single and multi-staged injection of H_(2) in a supersonic scramjet combustor

Computational fuid dynamics(CFD)simulations of a single staged injection of H_(2) through a central wedge shaped strut and a multi staged injection through wall injectors are carried out by using Ansys CFX-12 code.Unstructured terahedral grids for narow channel and quarter geometries of the combustor are generated by using ICEM CFD.Steady three dimensional(3D)Reynods averaged Navier-stokes(RANS)simulations are carried out in the case of no H_(2) injection and compared with the simulations of single staged pilot and/or main H2 injections and multistage injection.Shear stuess transport(SST)based on k-ω turbulent model is adopted.Flow field visualization(omplex shock waves interactions)and static pressure distribution along the wall of the combustor are pradicted and compared with the experimental schlieren images and measured wall static pressures for validation.A good agreement is found between the CFD predicted results and the measured data.The narow and quarter geometries of the combustor give similar results with very small differences.Multi-staged injections of H_(2) enhance the turbulent H_(2)/air mixing by fomming vortices and additional shock waves(bow shocks).

Ignition Process Evolution at High Supersonic Velocities in Channel

The results of experimental research of multi-injector combustors in the regime of the attached pipe are presented.As a source of high-enthalpy working gas (air), hot shot wind tunnel IT-302M of ITAM, the Siberian Branch ofthe Russian Academy of Sciences was used. Tests have been carried out at Mach numbers 3,4 and 5, in a range ofchange of total temperature from 2000K up to 3000K and static pressure from 0.08MPa up to 0.23MPa. Injectorsection has been manufactured in two versions with a various relative height of wedge-shaped injectors with parallelfuel injection. Influence of conditions on the entrance of the combustion chamber on ignition and a stablecombustion of hydrogen was investigated. Intensive combustion of hydrogen has been received only at Machnumbers 3 and 4. Advantage of injector section with the greater relative height of injectors is revealed. Themechanism of fuel ignition in the combustion chamber of the given configuration was investigated: two-step ignitionprocess including 'kindling' and intensive combustion over all channel volume.