Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Scramjet engine'

Les super-statoréacteurs sont des systèmes de propulsion aérobie à grande vitesse qui ne nécessitent pas d’éléments rotatifs pour comprimer l’écoulement d’air. Celui-ci est comprimé dynamiquement par un système d’admission intégré dans le véhicule, atteignant la pression et la température requises pour que la combustion puisse s’opérer dans la chambre de combustion. La chambre de combustion est traversée par un écoulement supersonique dans ce type de moteur, ce qui limite considérablement le temps disponible pour injecter le carburant, le mélanger avec un oxydant, enflammer le mélange obtenu et parvenir à une combustion complète. Les cavités peuvent être utilisées pour augmenter le temps de séjour sans perte excessive de pression totale et sont donc utilisées comme éléments de stabilisation dans les chambres de combustion supersonique. Cette thèse se concentre sur l’étude du mécanisme de stabilisation et des interactions chimie-turbulence dans le cas d’une injection pariétale de combustible dans un écoulement supersonique d’air vicié en amont d’une cavité carrée. Les conditions d’écoulement réactif à grande vitesse correspondantes sont examinées sur la base de simulations numériques d’un modèle de scramjet représentatif d’expériences effectuées précédemment à l’Université du Michigan. Les calculs sont effectués avec le solveur CREAMS, développé pour effectuer la simulation numérique d’écoulements multi-espèces réactifs compressibles sur des architectures massivement parallèles. Le solveur utilise des schémas numériques d’ordre élevé appliqués sur des maillages structurées et la géométrie de la chambre de combustion est modélisée à l’aide d’une méthode de frontières immergées (IBM). Les simulations LES font usage du modèle wall-adapting local eddy (WALE). Deux températures distinctes sont considérées dans l’écoulement entrant d’air vicié pour étudier la stabilisation de la combustion.Une attention particulière est accordée à l’analyse de la topologie et de la structure des écoulements réactifs, les régimes de combustion sont analysés sur la base de diagrammes standards de combustion turbulente
Scramjet engines are high-speed air breathing propulsion systems that do not require rotating elements to compress the air inlet stream. The flow is compressed dynamically through a supersonic intake system integrated in the aircraft’s forebody, reaching the required pressure and temperature for combustion to proceed within the combustor in this kind of engine. The combustion chamber is crossed by a supersonic flow, which limits severely the time available to inject fuel, mix it with oxidizer, ignite the resulting mixture and reach complete combustion. Cavities can be used to increase the residence time without excessive total pressure loss and are therefore used as flame holders in supersonic combustors.This thesis focuses in studying the flame stabilization mechanism and turbulence-chemistry interactions for a jet in a supersonic crossflow (JISCF) of vitiated air with hydrogen injection upstream of a wall-mounted squared cavity. The corresponding reactive high-speed flow conditions are scrutinized on the basis of numerical simulations of a scramjet model representative of experiments previously conducted at the University of Michigan. The computations are performed with the high-performance computational solver CREAMS, developed to perform the numerical simulation of compressible reactive multi-component flows on massively-parallel architectures. The solver makes use of high-order precision numerical schemes applied on structured meshes and the combustion chamber geometry is modeled by using the Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) algorithm. The present set of computations is conducted within the LES framework and the subgrid viscosity is treated with the wall-adapting local eddy (WALE)model. Two distinct temperatures are considered in the inlet vitiated airstream to study combustion stabilization. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of the reactive flow topology and structure,and the combustion regimes are analyzed on the basis of standard turbulent combustion diagrams

An experimental study of an aerodynamic ramp (aeroramp) injector was conducted at Virginia Tech. The aeroramp consisted of an array of two rows with two columns of flush-wall holes that induce vorticity and enhance mixing. For comparison, a single-hole circular injector with the same area angled downstream at 30 degrees was also examined. Test conditions involved sonic injection of helium heated to 313 K, to safely simulate hydrogen into a Mach 4 air cross-stream with average Reynolds number 5.77 e+7 per meter at a jet to freestream momentum flux ratio of 2.1. Sampling probe measurements were utilized to determine the local helium concentration. Pitot and cone-static pressure probes and a diffuser thermocouple probe were employed to document the flow. The main results of this work was that the mixing efficiency value of this aeroramp design which was optimized at Mach 2.4 for hydrocarbon fuel was only slightly higher than that of the single-hole injector at these flow conditions and the mass-averaged total pressure loss parameter showed that the aero-ramp and single-hole injectors had the same overall losses. The natural extension of the investigation was then to look in detail at two major physical phenomena that occurs in a complex injector design such the Aeroramp: the jet-shock interaction and the interaction of the vortical structures produced by the jets injection into a supersonic cross flow. Experimental studies were performed to investigate the effects of impinging shocks on injection of heated helium into a Mach 4 crossflow. It was found that the addition of a shock behind gaseous injection into a Mach 4 crossflow enhances mixing only if the shock is closer to the injection point where the counter-rotating vortex pair (always associated with transverse injection in a crossflow) is not yet formed, and the deposition of baroclinic generated of vorticity is the highest. The final investigation concerned with the interaction of the usual vortex structure produced by jet injection into a supersonic crossflow and an additional axial vortex typical of those that might be produced by the inlet of a scramjet or the forebody of a vehicle to be controlled by jet interaction phenomena. The additional axial vortices were generated by a strut-mounted, diamond cross-section wing mounted upstream of the injection location. The wing was designed to produce a tip vortex of a strength comparable to that of one of the typical counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP) found in the plume of a jet in a crossflow. The profound interaction of supersonic vortices supported by a quantitative description and characterization of the flowfield has been demonstrated.
Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Committee Chair: Menon Suresh; Committee Co-Chair: Jagoda Jeff; Committee Member: Ruffin Stephen; Committee Member: Thorsten Stoesser; Committee Member: Walker Mitchell. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

This work evaluates the capabilities of the RANS and LES techniques for the simulation of high speed reacting flows. These methods are used to gain further insight into the physics encountered and regimes present in supersonic combustion. The target application of this research is the scramjet engine, a propulsion system of great promise for efficient hypersonic flight. In order to conduct this work a new highly parallelised code, PULSAR, is developed. PULSAR is capable of simulating complex chemistry combustion in highly compressible flows, based on a second order upwind method to provide a monotonic solution in the presence of high gradient physics. Through the simulation of a non-reacting supersonic coaxial helium jet the RANS method is shown to be sensitive to constants involved in the modelling process. The LES technique is more computationally demanding but is shown to be much less sensitive to these model parameters. Nevertheless, LES results are shown to be sensitive to the nature of turbulence at the inflow; however this information can be experimentally obtained. The SCHOLAR test case is used to validate the reacting aspects of PULSAR. Comparing RANS results from laminar chemistry and assumed PDF combustion model simulations, the influence of turbulence-chemistry interactions in supersonic combustion is shown to be small. In the presence of reactions, the RANS results are sensitive to inflow turbulence, due to its influence on mixing. From complex chemistry simulations the combustion behaviour is evaluated to sit between the flamelet and distributed reaction regimes. LES results allow an evaluation of the physics involved, with a pair of coherent vortices identified as the dominant influence on mixing for the oblique wall fuel injection method. It is shown that inflow turbulence has a significant impact on the behaviour of these vortices and hence it is vital for turbulence intensities and length scales to be measured by experimentalists, in order for accurate simulations to be possible.

This work is part of the research and development, at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv), of the first Brazilian hypersonic vehicle prototype, the 14-X airplane. As this vehicle will be propelled by scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engines, this work presents detailed two-dimensional CFD analyses of the airflow in the intake system of such engines based on the 14-XB scramjet geometry and the expected flight conditions. The main objective is to study the airflow in the intake of the 14-XB at nominal flight condition and also for some off-design flight conditions and geometry using numerical methods and models available in the Fluent code. Off-design values of the vehicle velocity, angle of attack and altitude as well as of the angle of the inlet compression ramp and the number of inlet compression ramps were chosen to show how these changes impact the overall intake airflow. In this study are presented results for the airflow in the entire intake system and of specific flow variables at the engine combustor entrance, as well as calculation results of some intake performance parameters. Both, wall temperature and free stream flow turbulence effects on the intake airflow have also been analyzed. Investigation of viscous flow modeling and of the effects of temperature-dependent air properties has also been performed. Inviscid flow calculations have been performed to serve as a comparison basis for the viscous flow effects and as preliminary information of the airflow. A model validation analysis of the k-kl-? and Transition SST transition models has shown that both models can calculate BL and shock wave interactions (SWBLI) quite well, although, the k-kl-? is better to calculate the separation region whereas the Transition SST is superior to predict the reattachment point. Wall temperature has shown to affect quite significantly SWBLI while viscous flow modeling has shown to have an important impact on the intake airflow with some degradation of the intake system performance.

Supersonic inlet starting by mass spillage is studied theoretically and numerically in the present thesis. A quasi-one-dimensional, quasi-steady theory is developed for the analysis of flow inside a perforated inlet. The theory results in closed-form relations applicable to flow starting by the mass spillage technique in supersonic and hypersonic inlets.
The theory involves three parameters to incorporate the multi-dimensional nature of mass spillage through a wall perforation. Mass spillage through an individual slot is studied to determine these parameters; analytical expressions for these parameters are derived for both subsonic and supersonic flow conditions. In the case of mass spillage from supersonic flows, the relations are exact. However, due to the complexity of flow field, the theory is an approximation for subsonic flows. Therefore, a correction factor is introduced which is determined from an empirical relation obtained from numerical simulations.
A methodology is also proposed to determine perforation size and distribution to achieve flow starting for a given inlet at a desired free-stream Mach number. The problem of shock stability inside a perforated inlet designed with the proposed method is also discussed.
The method is demonstrated for some test cases. Time-realistic CFD simulations and experimental results in the literature confirm the accuracy of the theory and the reliability of the proposed design methodology.

Il mio lavoro di tesi è stato incentrato sulla progettazione e la realizzazione di un prototipo di isolator (componente necessaria per il funzionamento dei motori scramjet, utilizzati per velivoli aerospaziali ipersonici) in grado di generare tramite un opportuno dispositivo il meccanismo fluidodinamico che in letteratura viene definito "distortion mechanism". Tramite la tecnica fotografica denominata Schlieren, la quale sfrutta i gradienti di densità all’interno del fluido in esame, ho fotografato le onde di shock generate dal meccanismo suddetto, rendendo così possibile la comprensione del comportamento di queste onde e delle loro interazioni con il boundary layer, con le pareti, ma soprattutto dell’influenza che esse hanno sulle prestazioni di un eventuale propulsore. Da qui è partita una analisi sulle interazioni shock-shock e shock-boundary layer: quest’ultimo fenomeno è di grande interesse in quanto si è notato che non solo viene attivato un meccanismo di distorsione dell’onda stessa, ma che addirittura si manifesta la separazione dello strato limite, generando complessi fenomeni fluidodinamici e termodinamici i quali decrementano l’efficienza non solo dell’isolator bensì del motore stesso.È stato infine previsto come le onde di shock che si propagavano nell’isolator avrebbero potuto affliggere il mixing e la combustione nell’ultimo stage del prototipo, evidenziando le conseguenze che avrebbero generato sull’efficienza generale del ciclo termodinamico. Per concludere il mio lavoro di tesi ho sviluppato alcuni tools in ambiente Matlab utili per poter calcolare le proprietà termodinamiche di un fluido che entra in un inlet di uno scramjet. Per motivi di complessità del problema e per la non assoluta certezza dei fenomeni fluidodinamici e termodinamici che realmente accadono in questi motori (in 3-D), le equazioni utilizzate all’interno del codice sono utili per un’analisi di un fluido quasi monodimensionale.

To advance the design of hypersonic vehicles, high-fidelity multi-physics CFD is used to characterize 3-D scramjet flow-fields in two novel streamline traced configurations. The two inlets, Jaws and Scoop, are analyzed and compared to a traditional rectangular inlet used as a baseline for on/off-design conditions. The flight trajectory conditions selected are Mach 6 and a dynamic pressure of 1,500 psf (71.82 kPa). Analysis of these hypersonic inlets is performed to investigate distortion effects downstream with multiple single cavity combustors acting as flame holders, and several fuel injection strategies. The best integrated scramjet inlet/combustor design is identified. The flow physics is investigated and the integrated performance impact of the two innovative scramjet inlet designs is quantified. Frozen and finite rate chemistry is simulated with 13 gaseous species and 20 reactions for an Ethylene/air finite-rate chemical model. In addition, URANS and LES modeling are compared to explore overall flow structure and to contrast individual numerical methods. The flow distortion in Jaws and Scoop is similar to some of the distortion in the traditional rectangular inlet, despite design differences. The baseline and Jaws performance attributes are stronger than Scoop, but Jaws accomplishes this while eradicating the cowl lip interaction, and lessening the total drag and spillage penalties. The innovative inlets work best on-design, whereas for off-design, the traditional inlet is best. Early pressure losses and flow distortions in the isolator aid the mixing of air and fuel, and improve the overall efficiency of the system. Although the trends observed with and without chemical reactions are similar, the former yields roughly 10% higher mixing efficiency and upstream reactions are present. These show a significant impact on downstream development. Unsteadiness in the combustor increases the mixing efficiency, varying the flame anchoring and combustion pressure effects upstream of the step.

One of the current goals of research in hypersonic, airbreathing propulsion is access to higher Mach numbers. A strong driver of this goal is the desire to integrate a scramjet engine into a transatmospheric vehicle airframe in order to improve performance to low Earth orbit (LEO) or the performance of a semi-global transport. An engine concept designed to access hypervelocity speeds in excess of Mach 10 is the shock-induced combustion ramjet (i.e. shcramjet). This dissertation presents numerical studies simulating the physics of a shcramjet vehicle traveling at hypervelocity speeds with the goal of understanding the physics of fuel injection, wall autoignition mitigation, and combustion instability in this flow regime. This research presents several unique contributions to the literature. First, different classes of injection are compared at the same flow conditions to evaluate their suitability for forebody injection. A novel comparison methodology is presented that allows for a technically defensible means of identifying outperforming concepts. Second, potential wall cooling schemes are identified and simulated in a parametric manner in order to identify promising autoignition mitigation methods. Finally, the presence of instabilities in the shock-induced combustion zone of the flowpath are assessed and the analysis of fundamental physics of blunt-body premixed, shock-induced combustion is accelerated through the reformulation of the Navier Stokes equations into a rapid analysis framework. The usefulness of such a framework for conducting parametric studies is demonstrated.

碩士
淡江大學
機械與機電工程學系碩士班
100
Supersonic combustion ramjet engine work flow field are thin. Therefore, We have to use micro particle to analyze. The macro continuum hypothesis is no longer suitable. This article use one of the Numerical Solution to simulate DSMC. It is precise and used a lot of analyze recently. This article adopted the variety of Scramjet inner flow field by DSMC. We consider the situation of fuel ignition and air mixing. How to achieve good mixing efficiency has become concerned about the direction of the research, therefore, for a variety of different the combustion chamber configuration calculation and analysis its mixing efficiency.

The recent resurgence in hypersonics is centered around the development of SCRAMJET engine technology to power future hypersonic vehicles. Successful flight trials by Australian and American scientists have created interest in the scramjet engine research across the globe. To develop scramjet engine, it is important to study heat transfer effects on the engine performance and aerodynamic forces acting on the body. Hence, the main aim of present investigation is the design of scramjet engine configuration and measurement of aerodynamic forces acting on the model and heat transfer rates along the length of the combustor. The model is a two-dimensional single ramp model and is designed based on shock-on-lip (SOL) condition. Experiments are performed in IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST2 at two different Mach numbers of 8 and 7 for different angles of attack. Aerodynamic forces measurements using three-component accelerometer force balance and heat transfer rates measurements using platinum thin film sensors deposited on Macor substrate are some of the shock tunnel flow diagnostics that have been used in this study.

The recent resurgence in hypersonics is centered around the development of SCRAMJET engine technology to power future hypersonic vehicles. Successful flight trials by Australian and American scientists have created interest in the scramjet engine research across the globe. To develop scramjet engine, it is important to study heat transfer effects on the engine performance and aerodynamic forces acting on the body. Hence, the main aim of present investigation is the design of scramjet engine configuration and measurement of aerodynamic forces acting on the model and heat transfer rates along the length of the combustor. The model is a two-dimensional single ramp model and is designed based on shock-on-lip (SOL) condition. Experiments are performed in IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST2 at two different Mach numbers of 8 and 7 for different angles of attack. Aerodynamic forces measurements using three-component accelerometer force balance and heat transfer rates measurements using platinum thin film sensors deposited on Macor substrate are some of the shock tunnel flow diagnostics that have been used in this study.

碩士
逢甲大學
航太與系統工程學系
103
This study describes using the finite volume method to solve Reynold average Navier-Stokes Equations, in order to simulates the flow field of external intake compression ramp to the internal combustion chamber on a supersonic combustion ramjet engine(Scramjet Engine). And this thesis uses non-premixed combustion model to simulate the combustion reaction process of supersonic combustion. The operation theory of supersonic combustion ramjet engine is that in hypersonic flight conditions, air compressed by shock waves pass into the combustion chamber and produce combustion reaction with fuel. The flow through nozzle exchange for thrust at last. This research focuses on the phenomena of heat flow in the combustion chamber when the fluid combusts in the supersonic conditions. Previous study observes the sequence of external shock wave development through two dimension unsteady simulations with non-fuel injection. After that, the research observes the influence of Hydrogen injection velocity interact the combustion field by maintaining the total pressure and total temperature of fuel and changing the injection mach number to 2.5, 2.75, 3.0. This study discovers injection speed influence the deflection angle of shock wave. It indirectly affects times of shock reflection and merged position on the wall. The injection velocity also affects the thickness of the flame. Hydrogen injects more faster, the flame thickness become thinner. The research further explores a three-dimensional combustion chamber, and uses unsteady simulation to observe the shape of flame in the three-dimensional supersonic combustion flow field. Then we acquire the combustion phenomena of profile section through the presentation of streamlines for the combustion chamber along the axial channel. This research discovers the supersonic combustion flow patterns closely linked with shock waves reflection and intersection.

碩士
淡江大學
機械與機電工程學系碩士班
101
In this study, the direct simulation Monte Carlo method was used in simulating the internal flow field and fuel mixing efficiency of a three-dimensional supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine to investigate the changes in the internal field of air inlets at varying Mach numbers and for different physical appearances. The study results show that oblique shock waves and normal shock waves affect the mixing quality of hydrogen in the combustion chamber. The simulated air inlet conditions were 12, 15, and 18 Mach. In addition, two types of physical appearances were tested, specifically, concave cavity and rear-ramped concave cavity. By comparing the results obtained from the three-dimensional simulations with extant two-dimensional simulation results, this study endeavors to increase simulation accuracy. These comparative results can then be used as a reference for conducting major simulations in the future.

Thermal management of the scramjet engine is one of the key issues of the challenges brought by the development of hypersonic airbreathing vehicles. A Closed Brayton Cycle thermal management system for a regenerative cooled scramjet is introduced with the goal of reducing the hydrogen fuel flow for cooling. Part of the heat absorbed from fuel is converted into other forms of energy to decrease the heat that must be taken away by hydrogen fuel. Reducing this heat increases the fuel heat sink (cooling capacity) without requiring excess fuel for cooling and eliminating the need to search for a new coolant. The proposed thermal cycle reduces the fuel flow for cooling, and this way, the fuel on board assures the cooling requirements for the whole hypersonic vehicle. The basic concept and working principle are introduced: a thermodynamic cycle analysis is performed to demonstrate the system performance gains of Closed Brayton Cycle (CBC) Thermal Management System (TMS) over the conventional system with regenerative cooling. It was shown that the Closed Brayton Cycle Thermal Management Systems presents a high performance gain when compared to conventional regenerative cooling due to the reduction of fuel flow for cooling and additional power output.

Combustion is at the base of many energy production processes and, today like never before, research is involved in maximizing combustion efficiency and reducing the pollution deriving from it. Thanks to the high specific energy of fuels, combustion processes will still have a role in the future, especially in the transportation sector. Therefore, increasing Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) efficiency and reducing their polluting emissions has become an imperative object. Among all the non-conventional ignition systems that are being purposed by research, Turbulent Jet Ignition (TJI) seems to be one of the most promising capable to achieve leaner combustion and higher thermal efficiency in spark ignited engine. In a TJI system a jet of high-energy reactive gases is generated by means of a pilot combustion in a pre-chamber and used to initiate the main combustion event in the cylinder. By virtue of this, TJI devices are able to achieve a more stable combustion also with more problematic fuels, such as Methane. In the present work, a deep and innovative analysis approach is purposed and applied to a TJI prototype installed on a Methane fueled optically accessible spark ignition research engine. By means of 3D numerical simulations, the behavior of such engine has been monitored and analyzed over a whole engine cycle. Attention has been paid especially on the scavenging, filling and combustion phases in the pre-chamber. Moreover, the jets characteristics and species distribution and evolution are analyzed in order to study the reactive-jet-induced ignition mechanism of the main charge and the associated fuel conversion mechanism. Attention is also given to pollutant species formation and in-cylinder distribution. The purposed approach allowed the characterization of the main phenomena involved in the operation of such system as well as the evaluation of different parameters, such as combustion duration, flame evolution and pre-chamber ignition energy release. The same engine without the pre-chamber has been modeled as well and used for comparison. The bench test data recorded by Istituto Motori di Napoli CNR were employed both to tune the model and to compare the performance increase due to the TJI device. Parallelly, CFD studies on a scramjet combustor for hypersonic flight purposes fueled with Hydrogen were also carried out. After having validated the model against a set of in-flight representative data, the main physical mechanisms involved in the mixing and combustion processes were analyzed. Moreover, various information about the complex flow patterns and structure were retrieved.

Hypersonic air-breathing cruise vehicles powered by supersonic combustion ramjet engines are the potential candidate for future space and defense applications. The air intake of the scramjet engine is a vital component that uses shock waves to compress the air to pressure and temperatures suitable for supersonic combustion. Understanding the unstart dynamics of such intakes is of prime importance for the seamless operation of scramjet intakes. While the unstart dynamics in supersonic intakes are studied widely by various researchers, only a few such studies are reported in hypersonic intakes. The mechanisms associated with the same are not clearly understood. In the current work, a design optimization framework is established by coupling (a) oblique-shock theory and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and (b) Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and NSGA - II to minimize total pressure loss and maximize intake exit temperature of planar mixed compression intake at a design Mach number of 6. The ramp and cowl angles constitute the design space. The intake with maximum exit temperature is chosen to study its unstart dynamics using a combination of experiments in a hypersonic wind tunnel (M = 6 and Re = 8.86 × 106/m) and unsteady numerical investigations using the open-source suite SU2. The intake model is equipped with a movable cowl and flap to study the internal contraction and throttling induced unstart. Simultaneous pressure measurements and schlieren flow visualization are carried out to study unsteady flow physics associated with intake unstart. The dynamic content in the flow is analyzed using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and spectrogram of the unsteady pressure signal and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) of the schlieren images and density contours. In this work, two different modes of shock oscillation during unstart are observed when the flap is moved while the cowl is held stationary. At ICR = 1.19, the intake shows started behavior for throttling ratio up to 0.31, and a dual behavior, where it remains started in dynamic flap runs but unstarted in fixed flap runs for throttling ratios of 0.35 and 0.42. The intake exhibits a staged evolution to a large amplitude oscillatory unstart for throttling ratios of 0.55 and 0.69, with frequencies of 950 and 1100 Hz, respectively. A staged evolution (5 stages) to a subsonic spillage oscillatory unstart is detailed using corroborative evidence from both time-resolved schlieren and pressure measurements. The ramp side separation bubble drives the high amplitude oscillatory unstart. At ICR = 1.37, the shear layer emanating from the triple point of shock interaction drives the low amplitude oscillatory unstart with a dominant frequency of about 3.7 kHz for a throttling ratio of 0.69. A criterion for demarcating the modes of unstart is evolved using current and previous data. The actual shock on lip condition during started operation demarcates the two modes of oscillatory unstart. Unsteady numerical computations are performed to study the effect of enthalpy on the unstart frequency. The frequency of unstart varies linearly with stagnation acoustic speed and is an appropriate velocity scale. During unstart, the extent of the subsonic region is the appropriate length scale to be used in the quarter-wave resonance model to estimate unstart frequency pertaining to high mechanical blockage

Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) engines combine the best performance characteristics of air-breathing systems such as ramjets and scramjets with rockets with the goal of increasing payload/structure and propellant performance and thus making LEO more readily accessible. The idea of using RBCC engines for Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) trans-atmospheric acceleration is not new, but has been known for decades. Unfortunately, the availability of detailed models of RBCC engines is scarce. This thesis addresses the issue through the construction of an analytical performance model of an ejector rocket in a dual combustion propulsion system (ERIDANUS) RBCC engine. This performance model along with an atmospheric model, created using MATLAB was designed to be a preliminary `proof-of-concept' which provides details on the performance and behavior of an RBCC engine in the context of use during trans-atmospheric acceleration, and also to investigate the possibility of improving propellant performance above that of conventional rocket powered systems. ERIDANUS behaves as a thrust augmented rocket in low speed flight, as a ramjet in supersonic flight, a scramjet in hypersonic flight, and as a pure rocket near orbital speeds and altitudes. A simulation of the ERIDANUS RBCC engine's flight through the atmosphere in the presence of changing atmospheric conditions was performed. The performance code solves one-dimensional compressible flow equations while using the stream thrust control volume method at each station component (e.g. diffuser, burner, and nozzle) in all modes of operation to analyze the performance of the ERIDANUS RBCC engine. Plots of the performance metrics of interest including specific impulse, specific thrust, thrust specific fuel consumption, and overall efficiency were produced. These plots are used as a gage to measure the behavior of the ERIDANUS propulsion system as it accelerates towards LEO. A mission averaged specific impulse of 1080 seconds was calculated from the ERIDANUS code, reducing the required propellant mass to 65% of the gross lift off weight (GLOW), thus increasing the mass available for the payload and structure to 35% of the GLOW. Validation of the ERIDANUS RBCC concept was performed by comparing it with other known RBCC propulsion models. Good correlation exists between the ERIDANUS model and the other models. This indicates that the ERIDANUS RBCC is a viable candidate propulsion system for a one-stage trans-atmospheric accelerator.

The main objective of this dissertation is to develop large-eddy simulation (LES) based computational tools for supersonic inlet and combustor design. In the recent past, LES methodology has emerged as a viable tool for modeling turbulent combustion. LES computes the large scale mixing process accurately, thereby providing a better starting point for small-scale models that describe the combustion process. In fact, combustion models developed in the context of Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations exhibit better predictive capability when used in the LES framework. The development of a predictive computational tool based on LES will provide a significant boost to the design of scramjet engines. Although LES has been used widely in the simulation of subsonic turbulent flows, its application to high-speed flows has been hampered by a variety of modeling and numerical issues. In this work, we develop a comprehensive LES methodology for supersonic flows, focusing on the simulation of scramjet engine components. This work is divided into three sections. First, a robust compressible flow solver for a generalized high-speed flow configuration is developed. By using carefully designed numerical schemes, dissipative errors associated with discretization methods for high-speed flows are minimized. Multiblock and immersed boundary method are used to handle scramjet-specific geometries. Second, a new combustion model for compressible reactive flows is developed. Subsonic combustion models are not directly applicable in high-speed flows due to the coupling between the energy and velocity fields. Here, a probability density function (PDF) approach is developed for high-speed combustion. This method requires solution to a high dimensional PDF transport equation, which is achieved through a novel direct quadrature method of moments (DQMOM). The combustion model is validated using experiments on supersonic reacting flows. Finally, the LES methodology is used to study the inlet-isolator component of a dual-mode scramjet. The isolator is a critical component that maintains the compression shock structures required for stable combustor operation in ramjet mode. We simulate unsteady dynamics inside an experimental isolator, including the propagation of an unstart event that leads to loss of compression. Using a suite of simulations, the sensitivity of the results to LES models and numerical implementation is studied.
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In the pursuit of developing hypersonic cruise vehicles, unstart is a major roadblock to achieving stable flight. Unstart occurs when a sudden instability in the combustor of a vehicle’s propulsion system creates an instantaneous pressure rise that initiates a shock. This shock travels upstream out of the inlet of the vehicle, until it is ejected from the inlet and creates a standing shockwave that chokes the flow entering the vehicle, thereby greatly reducing its propulsive capability. In severe cases, this can lead to the loss of the vehicle. This thesis presents the results of a computational study of the dynamics of unstart near Mach 5 and presents some possible precursor signals that may indicate its presence in flight. Using SU2, an open-source CFD code developed at Stanford University, the Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are used to develop a model for flow in a scramjet inlet-isolator geometry, both in the fully started state and during unstart. The results of these calculations were compared against experimental data collected by J. Wagner, at the University of Texas, Austin. In the present computations, unstart was initiated through the use of an artificial body force, which mimicked a moveable flap used in the experiments. Once the results of the code were validated against these experiments, a selection of parametric studies were conducted to determine how the design of the inlet-isolator by Wagner affected the flow, and thus how generalizable the results can be. In addition, precursor signals indicative of unstart were identified for further study and examined in the different parametric studies. It was found that a thick boundary layer is conducive to a stronger precursor signal and a slower unstart. In addition, an aspect ratio closer to 1:1 promotes flow mixing and reduces the unstart speed and strength. Moreover, an aspect ratio in this range reduces the precursor signal strength but, if a thick boundary layer is present, will smear the signal out over a larger area, potentially making it easier to detect.

The purpose of this research was to determine if it is feasible to apply Lorentz mixing to supersonic diffusion flames, such as those found in SCRAMjet engines. The combustion rate in supersonic diffusion flames is limited by the rate at which air and fuel mix. Lorentz mixing increases turbulence within a flow, which increases the rate at which species mix and thus increases the rate of combustion. In order to determine the feasibility of Lorentz mixing for this application, a two-dimensional model of supersonic reacting flow with the application of a Lorentz force has been examined numerically. The flow model includes the complete Navier-Stokes equations, the ideal gas law, and terms to account for diffusion of chemical species, heat release due to chemical reaction, change in species density due to chemical reaction, and the Lorentz forces applied during Lorentz mixing. In addition, the Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model is used to approximate turbulent transport properties. A FORTRAN program using the MacCormack method, a commonly used computational fluid dynamics algorithm, was used to solve the governing equations. The accuracy of the program was verified by using the program to model flows with known solutions. Results were obtained for flows with Lorentz forces applied over a series of power levels and frequencies. The results show significant increases in the rate of combustion when Lorentz mixing is applied. The amount of power required to drive Lorentz mixing is small relative to the rate at which energy is released in the chemical reaction. An optimum frequency at which to apply Lorentz mixing was also found for the flow being considered. The results of the current study show that Lorentz mixing looks promising for increasing combustion rates in supersonic reacting flows, and that future study is warranted. In particular, researchers attempting to improve combustion in SCRAMjet engines may want to consider Lorentz mixing as a way to improve combustion.
Graduation date: 1997

One of the major technological innovations that are necessary for faster and cheaper access-to-space will be the commercial realization of supersonic combustion jet engines (SCRAMJET). The establishment of the flow through the inlet is one the prime requirement for the success of a SCRAMJET engine. The flow through a SCRAMJET inlet is dominated by inviscid /viscous coupling, transition, shock-shock interaction, shock boundary layer interaction, blunt leading edge effects and flow profile effects. Although the literature is exhaustive on various aspects of flow features associated with SCRAMJET engines, very little is known on the fundamental gasdynamic features dictating the flow establishment in the SCRAMJET inlet. On one hand we need the reduction of flight Mach number to manageable supersonic values inside the SCRAMJET combustor, but on the other hand we have to achieve this with minimum total pressure loss. Hence the dynamics of ramp/cowl shock interaction process ahead of the inlet has a direct bearing on the quality and type of flow inside the SCRAMJET engine. There is virtually no data base in the open literature focusing specifically on the cowl/ramp shock interactions at hypersonic Mach numbers. Hence in this backdrop, the main aim of the present investigation is to systematically understand the ramp/cowl shock interaction processes in front of a generic inlet model. Since we are primarily concerned with the shock interaction process ahead of the cowl all the investigations are carried out without any fuel injection. Variable geometry is necessary if we want to operate the inlet for a wide range of Mach numbers in actual flight. The investigation mainly comprises of three variable geometry configurations; namely, variation of contraction ratios at 00 cowl (CR 8.4, 5.0 and 4.3), variation of cowl length for a given chamber height (four lengths of cowls at 10 mm chamber height) and variation of cowl angle (three angles cowl each for two chamber heights). The change in cowl configuration results in different ramp/cowl shock interaction processes affecting the performance of the inlet. Experiments are performed in IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST 2 (test time ~ 1 ms) at two nominal Mach numbers 8.0 and 5.74 for design and off-design testing conditions. Exhaustive numerical simulations are also performed to compliment the experiments. Further the effect of concentrated energy deposition on forebody /cowl shock interactions has also been investigated. A 2D, planar, single ramp scramjet inlet model has been designed and fabricated along with various cowl geometries and tested in a hypersonic shock tunnel to characterize the forebody/cowl shock interaction process for different inlet configurations. Further a DC plasma power unit and a plasma torch have been designed, developed and fabricated to serve as energy source for conducting flow-alteration experiments in the inlet model. The V-I characteristics of the plasma torch is studied and an estimation of plasma temperature is also performed as a part of characterizing the plasma flame. Initial standardization experiments of blunt body flow field alteration using the plasma torch and hence its drag reduction, are performed to check the torch’s suitability to be used as a flow-altering device in a shock tunnel. The plasma torch is integrated successfully with the inlet model in a shock tunnel to perform experiments with plasma jet as the energy source. The above experiments are first of its kind to be conducted in a shock tunnel. They are performed at various pressure ratios and supply currents. Time resolved schlieren flow visualization using Phantom 7.1 (Ms Vision Research USA) high speed camera, surface static pressure measurements inside a generic inlet using miniature kulite transducer and surface convective heat transfer rate measurements inside a generic inlet using platinum thin film sensors deposited on Macor substrate are some of the shock tunnel flow diagnostics that have been used in this study. Some of the important conclusions from the study are: • Experiments performed at different contraction ratios show different shock patterns. At CR 8.4, the SOL condition is satisfied, but the flow gets choked due to over contraction and flow through inlet is not established. For CR 5.0, formation of a small Mach stem before the chamber is observed with the reflection point on the cowl and the weak reflected shock entering inside the chamber. The Mach stem grows with time. For CR 4.3, the forebody/cowl shock interference created an Edney’s Type II shock interaction pattern. However, at off-design conditions, for CR 5 the shock reflection is regular and at CR 4.3, the Edney’s Type II pattern lasts for a short time. • For all lengths of cowl tested, 131mm and 141mm showed Edney’s Type II shock interference where as 151mm showed Edney’s Type I pattern at design condition. In all cases the flow is choked for high contraction ratio. At off-design condition these shock patterns do not last for the entire test time but rather it becomes a lambda pattern with the normal shock before the inlet. • For inlet configurations with cowl angle other than 00, the flow is found to be established for all cases at designed condition and except for 100 cowl at off-design condition. • For CR 8.4 the peak value of pressure (~1.7x104 Pa) occurs at a location of 151mm, where as for CR 5.0 and 4.3 they occur at 188mm and 206mm having values ~1.6x104 Pa and ~1.4x104 Pa respectively. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. • For cowl angle of 00 for a 10 mm chamber the maximum pressure value recorded is ~1.7x104 Pa whereas for 100 and 200 cowl it is ~1.1x104 Pa and 1.2 x104 Pa respectively. This is because in the first case the inlet is choked because of over contraction whereas in the other two cases the CR is less and flow is established inside the inlet. • The average heat transfer rates of last four heat transfer gauges (180 mm, 190 mm, 200 mm and 210 mm from the forebody tip) for all lengths of cowls tested are found to be almost same (~ 20 W/cm2). This is because the flow is choked in all these cases. The numerical simulation also shows uniform distribution here, consistent with the experimental findings. • The locations of heat transfer peaks for 100 cowl at design condition can be observed to be occurring at 170 mm and 200 mm from the forebody tip having values ~44 W/cm2 and ~39 W/cm2 respectively. For a 200 cowl they seem to be occurring at 170 mm and 180 mm from the forebody tip having values ~50 W/cm2 and ~30 W/cm2. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. With the evolution of concept of upstream fuel injection in recent times these may the most appropriate locations for fuel injection. • At higher jet pressure ratios the plasma jet/ramp shock interaction results in a lambda shock pattern with the triple point forming vertically above the cowl level. This means the normal shock stands in front of the inlet making a part of the flow entering the inlet subsonic. The reflected shock from the triple point also separates the ramp boundary layer. • At lower jet pressure ratios the triple point is formed below the cowl level and the flow entering inside the inlet is supersonic. The reflected shock interacts with the cowl shock and a weak separation shock is seen. • Experiments are performed with concentrated DC electric discharge as energy source. Even though the amount of energy dumped here is less than 0.25% of the total energy it creates a perceptible disturbance in the flow. • Experiments are also performed to see the effect of electric discharge as energy source on height of Mach stem for a given inlet configuration. Deposition of energy in the present location does not seem to alter the Mach stem height. However more experiments need to be performed by varying the energy location to see its effect. Non-intrusive energy sources like microwave and lasers can be thought of as options for depositing energy to study its effect on Mach stem height. Since they provide more flexibility on varying the location of energy the optimum location of energy can be found out for highest reduction of Mach stem height.

One of the major technological innovations that are necessary for faster and cheaper access-to-space will be the commercial realization of supersonic combustion jet engines (SCRAMJET). The establishment of the flow through the inlet is one the prime requirement for the success of a SCRAMJET engine. The flow through a SCRAMJET inlet is dominated by inviscid /viscous coupling, transition, shock-shock interaction, shock boundary layer interaction, blunt leading edge effects and flow profile effects. Although the literature is exhaustive on various aspects of flow features associated with SCRAMJET engines, very little is known on the fundamental gasdynamic features dictating the flow establishment in the SCRAMJET inlet. On one hand we need the reduction of flight Mach number to manageable supersonic values inside the SCRAMJET combustor, but on the other hand we have to achieve this with minimum total pressure loss. Hence the dynamics of ramp/cowl shock interaction process ahead of the inlet has a direct bearing on the quality and type of flow inside the SCRAMJET engine. There is virtually no data base in the open literature focusing specifically on the cowl/ramp shock interactions at hypersonic Mach numbers. Hence in this backdrop, the main aim of the present investigation is to systematically understand the ramp/cowl shock interaction processes in front of a generic inlet model. Since we are primarily concerned with the shock interaction process ahead of the cowl all the investigations are carried out without any fuel injection. Variable geometry is necessary if we want to operate the inlet for a wide range of Mach numbers in actual flight. The investigation mainly comprises of three variable geometry configurations; namely, variation of contraction ratios at 00 cowl (CR 8.4, 5.0 and 4.3), variation of cowl length for a given chamber height (four lengths of cowls at 10 mm chamber height) and variation of cowl angle (three angles cowl each for two chamber heights). The change in cowl configuration results in different ramp/cowl shock interaction processes affecting the performance of the inlet. Experiments are performed in IISc hypersonic shock tunnel HST 2 (test time ~ 1 ms) at two nominal Mach numbers 8.0 and 5.74 for design and off-design testing conditions. Exhaustive numerical simulations are also performed to compliment the experiments. Further the effect of concentrated energy deposition on forebody /cowl shock interactions has also been investigated. A 2D, planar, single ramp scramjet inlet model has been designed and fabricated along with various cowl geometries and tested in a hypersonic shock tunnel to characterize the forebody/cowl shock interaction process for different inlet configurations. Further a DC plasma power unit and a plasma torch have been designed, developed and fabricated to serve as energy source for conducting flow-alteration experiments in the inlet model. The V-I characteristics of the plasma torch is studied and an estimation of plasma temperature is also performed as a part of characterizing the plasma flame. Initial standardization experiments of blunt body flow field alteration using the plasma torch and hence its drag reduction, are performed to check the torch’s suitability to be used as a flow-altering device in a shock tunnel. The plasma torch is integrated successfully with the inlet model in a shock tunnel to perform experiments with plasma jet as the energy source. The above experiments are first of its kind to be conducted in a shock tunnel. They are performed at various pressure ratios and supply currents. Time resolved schlieren flow visualization using Phantom 7.1 (Ms Vision Research USA) high speed camera, surface static pressure measurements inside a generic inlet using miniature kulite transducer and surface convective heat transfer rate measurements inside a generic inlet using platinum thin film sensors deposited on Macor substrate are some of the shock tunnel flow diagnostics that have been used in this study. Some of the important conclusions from the study are: • Experiments performed at different contraction ratios show different shock patterns. At CR 8.4, the SOL condition is satisfied, but the flow gets choked due to over contraction and flow through inlet is not established. For CR 5.0, formation of a small Mach stem before the chamber is observed with the reflection point on the cowl and the weak reflected shock entering inside the chamber. The Mach stem grows with time. For CR 4.3, the forebody/cowl shock interference created an Edney’s Type II shock interaction pattern. However, at off-design conditions, for CR 5 the shock reflection is regular and at CR 4.3, the Edney’s Type II pattern lasts for a short time. • For all lengths of cowl tested, 131mm and 141mm showed Edney’s Type II shock interference where as 151mm showed Edney’s Type I pattern at design condition. In all cases the flow is choked for high contraction ratio. At off-design condition these shock patterns do not last for the entire test time but rather it becomes a lambda pattern with the normal shock before the inlet. • For inlet configurations with cowl angle other than 00, the flow is found to be established for all cases at designed condition and except for 100 cowl at off-design condition. • For CR 8.4 the peak value of pressure (~1.7x104 Pa) occurs at a location of 151mm, where as for CR 5.0 and 4.3 they occur at 188mm and 206mm having values ~1.6x104 Pa and ~1.4x104 Pa respectively. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. • For cowl angle of 00 for a 10 mm chamber the maximum pressure value recorded is ~1.7x104 Pa whereas for 100 and 200 cowl it is ~1.1x104 Pa and 1.2 x104 Pa respectively. This is because in the first case the inlet is choked because of over contraction whereas in the other two cases the CR is less and flow is established inside the inlet. • The average heat transfer rates of last four heat transfer gauges (180 mm, 190 mm, 200 mm and 210 mm from the forebody tip) for all lengths of cowls tested are found to be almost same (~ 20 W/cm2). This is because the flow is choked in all these cases. The numerical simulation also shows uniform distribution here, consistent with the experimental findings. • The locations of heat transfer peaks for 100 cowl at design condition can be observed to be occurring at 170 mm and 200 mm from the forebody tip having values ~44 W/cm2 and ~39 W/cm2 respectively. For a 200 cowl they seem to be occurring at 170 mm and 180 mm from the forebody tip having values ~50 W/cm2 and ~30 W/cm2. These locations indicate the likely locations of shock impingements inside the chamber. With the evolution of concept of upstream fuel injection in recent times these may the most appropriate locations for fuel injection. • At higher jet pressure ratios the plasma jet/ramp shock interaction results in a lambda shock pattern with the triple point forming vertically above the cowl level. This means the normal shock stands in front of the inlet making a part of the flow entering the inlet subsonic. The reflected shock from the triple point also separates the ramp boundary layer. • At lower jet pressure ratios the triple point is formed below the cowl level and the flow entering inside the inlet is supersonic. The reflected shock interacts with the cowl shock and a weak separation shock is seen. • Experiments are performed with concentrated DC electric discharge as energy source. Even though the amount of energy dumped here is less than 0.25% of the total energy it creates a perceptible disturbance in the flow. • Experiments are also performed to see the effect of electric discharge as energy source on height of Mach stem for a given inlet configuration. Deposition of energy in the present location does not seem to alter the Mach stem height. However more experiments need to be performed by varying the energy location to see its effect. Non-intrusive energy sources like microwave and lasers can be thought of as options for depositing energy to study its effect on Mach stem height. Since they provide more flexibility on varying the location of energy the optimum location of energy can be found out for highest reduction of Mach stem height.