Modeling of the non-uniform combustion in a scramjet engine

Due to the high-speed of the air stream, the scramjet combustion is neither uniform nor complete. An empirical fuel distribution model is developed to describe non-uniform combustion for scramjet engines. The combustor is subdivided into different regions by radius with different local equivalence ratios. The conservation equations of the regions for the combustion and exhaust expansion are computed independently. The results indicate that scramjet thrust is more related to the fuel equivalence ratio and combustion efficiency. If the combustion efficiency is 100% and the fuel equivalence ratio is constant, there is no obvious effect of different fuel distribution to the engine except for the exhaust parameter distribution. It is also revealed that the sum of isolator shock loss and combustor Rayleigh loss is nearly constant under the same isolate cross-sectional area. Lower isolator inlet Mach is benefit to the thrust performance and the best thrust performance is at the thermal choking boundary. When the isolator inlet Mach increases, the thrust decreases.     

Combustion efficiency improvement for scramjet combustor with strut based flame stabilizer using passive techniques

In a Supersonic combustion ramjet (Scramjet) engine, combustion occurs at supersonic velocity as incoming air remains supersonic. Scramjet engines have complex flow phenomena taking place inside the combustor. In a scramjet combustor, mixing and combustion should take place within few milliseconds. In the present study, two additional trailing struts with no fuel injection are placed a short distance downstream of the fuel injection strut. Effect on combustion performance using these strut-based flame stabilizer configurations are assessed. Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved with turbulence model and species transport equations. Validated results of the single strut are compared with the different strut configurations. It is found that the placement of trailing struts have a vital role. High-pressure zones, shock reflections, recirculation region, and expansion fan in between combustion region and the trailing struts enhance the combustion efficiency. Strut configuration introducing high-pressure regions outperformed other strut configurations due to the formation of a strong recirculation region in the core combustion region. Combustion efficiency is found to have a maximum improvement of 67.14% compared with single strut-based flame stabilizer. Total pressure loss also increased due to the introduction of additional struts.     

Investigation on combustion mode and heat release in a model scramjet engine affected by shocks

A model scramjet engine in which the 1.0 Ma hydrogen jet mixes and reacts with the 2.0 Ma surrounding airstream is investigated using large eddy simulation. The flame structure is analyzed with a focus on the relationship between premixed/diffusion combustion mode and heat release in the supersonic reacting flow. The flame filter is used to evaluate the contributions to heat release rate by different combustion modes qualitatively and quantitatively. Results show that the heat is released from a combination of premixed combustion mode and diffusion combustion mode even when the fuel and airstream are injected into the combustor separately. Local mode-transition occurs as the supersonic jet flame propagates and interacts with shocks. The diffusion combustion mode dominates during the ignition stage and the premixed combustion becomes dominant during the intensive combustion region. When the shock wave impinges on the flame, the combustion area decreases a little due to the compression effects of the shock. However, the heat release rate is significantly improved in the interaction region since the shock could increase the air entrainment rate by directing the airflow toward the fuel jet and enhance the mixing rate by inducing vorticity due to baroclinic effects, which is good for flame stabilization in the supersonic flow. For the present case, 33.3% of the heat is released by diffusion combustion and 66.7% of the heat is released by premixed combustion. Thus the premixed combustion mode is dominant in terms of its contributions to heat release in the model scramjet engine.     

Combustion modes periodical transition in a hydrogen-fueled scramjet combustor with rear-wall-expansion cavity flameholder

Cavity-stabilized combustion modes periodical transition in a laboratory hydrogen-fueled scramjet combustor were captured by high speed imaging. Experiments were performed with an isolator entrance Mach number of 2.92, and a sonic transverse fuel jet upstream of the cavity was employed. The reproducibility of the results had been tested in several repeated experiments. It is observed that, under a fixed combustor entry flow parameters and fuel equivalence ratio, after the flame has been fully developed, the flame structure may periodically transform between two different combustion modes. Specifically, under a moderate equivalence ratio, the flame structure switches between the cavity shear-layer stabilized mode and the combined shear-layer/recirculation stabilized mode, which shows an apparent periodicity with a period of about 7.5 ms. The formation mechanism for this novel phenomena is analyzed and some suppositions are given. When increasing the equivalence ratio to a high level, the flame structure shows a quasi-periodic low-frequency oscillation and the combustion mode changes between the combined shear-layer/recirculation stabilized mode and the cavity-assisted jet wake stabilized mode. At last, the formation mechanism and characteristics of the combined shear-layer/recirculation stabilized mode are detailed analyzed.     

Effect of hydrogen jets in supersonic mixing using strut injection schemes

The prevalence of complex phenomena associated with the fuel mixing of a supersonic stream in scramjet combustor is inherently occurred due to the short residence time. An efficient injection mechanism is required to enhance the mixing and improve combustion efficiency. This numerical simulation study aims to reveal the performance of modified strut injection strategies within a Mach 2.0 flow field. Two-dimensional steady and transient Navier-Stokes computations of the DLR scramjet experiment is performed for various strut injection locations. The Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equation with the SST k-ε turbulence model is utilized to solve the flow field under steady conditions. The critical parameters examined to investigate steady solutions are wall static pressure, flow Mach number, and total pressure loss across the combustor. The dual injection configuration in the flow considerably reduces the shock waves impact at the downstream of the strut and preserves the magnitude of internal forces acting on combustor walls and total pressure loss. Unsteady Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) results for hydrogen concentration and velocity field are analyzed by applying Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD). Multiple injections are observed to alter the frequency and the number of dominant modes.     

Optical diagnostics in a detonation-driven direct-connected circular combustor fueled with hydrogen for mach 10 scramjet

Various optical methods are applied to study flame characteristics of a circular-cross-section combustor for a Mach 10 scramjet. Experiments are performed on a direct-connected test facility fueled by hydrogen and driven using hydrogen/oxygen detonation. The circular-cross-section combustor is advantageous in solving thermal inhomogeneity, corner boundary layer and aircraft integration problems. However, it is difficult to use traditional optical measurement methods, which require large-sized measurement windows. In this study, tunable diode laser spectroscopy and a multi-view imaging system are used with small windows. High repetition rate measurements allow the effective time of facility, which is approximately 5 ms in this case, to be obtained. The dynamic flame characteristics are diagnosed upstream and downstream of the cavity with/without strut injection. When combined with proper orthogonal decomposition to obtain the flame pulsation state during the effective time period, the method is expected to be effective for engine performance evaluation and numerical simulation verification.     

Recent advances in cavity-based scramjet engine- a brief review

At present, the critical issue related to design of scramjet engine is to achieve efficient mixing between the air and fuel. Among the several fuel injection strategies, cavity flame holder is identified as a well-organized method for supporting the ignition zone. In this review, some mixing enhancement approaches based on well-known cavity based injection scheme proposed in latest research works, are summarized in detailed. The influence of cavity on the performance of scramjet combustor is recapitulated from three aspects, namely variation of shape/geometry of cavity flame holder; location of fuel/air injection scheme; and recent progresses in dual/double cavity. This review reveals that the cavity rear wall-expansion is an innovative kind of cavity flame holder which has a great impact on the efficiency of scramjet combustor whereas the presence of micro air jets have improved the flame holding mechanism of scramjet engine. Additionally, the performance of scramjet is significantly improved by dual cavity indicating that the dual cavity flame holder would be a feasible preference for the future growth of scramjet engine.     

Effect of variation of hydrogen injection pressure and inlet air temperature on the flow-field of a typical double cavity scramjet combustor

In the present research work, computational simulation of the double cavity scramjet combustor have been performed by using the two-dimensional compressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with two equation standard k–ɛ turbulence model as well as the finite-rate/eddy-dissipation reaction model. All the simulations are carried out using ANSYS 14-FLUENT code. Additionally, the computational results of the present double cavity scramjet combustor have been compared with experimental results for validation purpose which is taken from the literature. The computational outcomes are in satisfactory agreement with the experimentally obtained shadowgraph image and pressure variation curve. However, due to numerical calculation, the pressure variation curve obtained computationally is under-predicted in 5 locations. Further, analyses have been carried out to investigate the effect of variation of hydrogen injection pressure as well as the variation of air inlet temperature on the flow-field characteristics of scramjet engine keeping the Mach number constant. The obtained results show that the increase in hydrogen injection pressure is followed by the generation of larger vortex structure near the cavity regions which in turn helps to carry the injectant and also enhance the air/fuel mixing whereas the increase in the inlet temperature of air is characterised by the shifting of incident oblique shock in the downstream of the H₂ injection location. Again for T₀ = 1500 K, the combustion phenomena remains limited to the cavity region and spreads very little towards the downstream of the combustor.     

Implication of diamond shaped dual strut on combustion characteristics in a cavity-based scramjet combustor

The present study deals with the implication of the novel diamond-shaped dual strut with a backward-facing step on the combustion characteristics of a cavity-based scramjet combustor. The dual strut with diamond shape is considered for the investigation since it triggers the flow separation leading to the disturbances in the flow especially at the top and bottom wall thus serving the flame holding purpose. Firstly, the combustion characteristics of a combustor with a single strut are compared and evaluated with a dual strut based combustor to portray the effect of a dual strut. A separate study is carried out to investigate the influence of spacing in a dual strut on the performance of the scramjet combustor. Our study reveals that the dual strut with a cavity greatly affects the formation of vortices, separation region, and recirculation region which is evident from an increase in the mixing and combustion efficiency. It can be observed that the formation of vorticity and the recirculation region is found to be larger due to the strong and multiple reflections of a shock in the case of the diamond-shaped dual strut with a backward-facing step injection as compared to the single diamond-shaped strut. Further, it is observed that the spacing(D) in the dual strut also affects the mixing and combustion performance. It is found that the value of mixing and combustion efficiency decreases with an increase in spacing independent of Mach number due to the presence of larger separation regions. It can also be observed that the length of the recirculation region occupies entire the cavity making flame stable when the spacing is the least. This is desirable as far as engine performance is concerned.     

Numerical investigation on implication of dual cavity on combustion characteristics in strut based scramjet combustor

The present study investigates the implication of a dual cavity on combustion and mixing characteristics of strut based combustor numerically. A scramjet combustor with and without cavity are considered to evaluate the influence of cavity on combustion characteristics. Moreover, the effect of spacing between the cavities on combustion performance is also discussed. A separate study is carried out to understand the interplay of the Mach number and the spacing between the cavities on combustion characteristics. Our study reveals that the introduction of a dual cavity in scramjet combustor enhances the mixing and improves combustion performance. Further, it is found that the mixing length is lesser and the penetration height is more when a dual cavity is employed in a combustor. It can also be observed that the size of the recirculation region is found to be larger for the combustor with dual cavity among all configurations at the spacing S₂ = 12.7 mm. Further, the combustion efficiency and fuel penetration height are found to be maximum at Mach 2.5 with a spacing S₂ = 12.7 mm.     

Analysis of combustion mode and operating route for hydrogen fueled scramjet engine

Hydrogen fueled scramjet is a candidate for use as the engine of the aerospace plane for its high specific impulse. To further improve the specific impulse performance, analysis of combustion mode and operating route for a hydrogen fueled scramjet engine was investigated in this study. A scramjet engine with two-staged hydrogen injection was simulated by one-dimension numeric method within the acceleration from Mach 4 to 7. Three typical combustion modes (scramjet-mode, transitional mode and ramjet-mode) could be attained by changing the total amount of fuel added or adjusting the fuel distribution between two injectors. Simulation results show that better thrust performance can be achieved as more fuel injected at the upstream fuel injector as possible, while ensuring the engine safety. From a standpoint of specific impulse maximization, an optimal scramjet combustion mode database was presented and the boundary of the combustion mode transition was determined. Meanwhile, optimal operating route was also suggested for scramjet operation in this study.     

Computational realization of turbulent combustion in a scramjet combustor stabilized by a lobed strut

Currently, there are theoretical and technical challenges to organize stable flame in scramjet, especially for variable flight conditions. This paper applies the numerical simulation to investigate and analyze the combustion characteristics in a lobed strut-stabilized scramjet combustor under different conditions of Mach number (Ma). By comparing with the experiment date of hydrogen mole fraction, the reliability of large eddy simulation solver used in this paper is verified. On this basis, the simulations of mixing and combustion cases at Ma 1.5–3.0 are carried out separately. The numerical results show the streamwise vortices induced by the lobed strut enhance the mixing and are conducive to the subsequent stable combustion. The turbulent flame behaves lifted characteristics, and the auto-ignition provides the initial active radicals for its stabilization. There are two chemical reaction modes in the flow field, namely auto-ignition, and flame. Further comparison of the cases of different Mach numbers indicates that the lifted height of the flame depends on the Mach number. Analysis of probability density function (PDF) reveals that Mach number influent the competitive relationship between the auto-ignition mode and the flame mode. The auto-ignition and the flame coexist downstream in high ma cases, while the flame mode is the dominant in low Ma cases.     

Flame characteristics of a cavity-based scramjet combustor using OH-PLIF and feature extraction

It is vital to analyze the flame characteristics and identify the flame states efficiently in scramjet. Flame combustion and oscillation behaviors in a hydrogen-fueled cavity-stabilized scramjet combustor have been investigated in this study. A 500 Hz high-speed PLIF (planar laser-induced fluorescence) technique with a 20-cm-wide view field is introduced to characterize the combustion flow. The spatial distribution of the flame structure under different fuel injection conditions is studied. The results indicate that the position of the flame peak shifted downstream of the cavity when increasing the injection pressure to a high level. The dynamic characteristics of flames under different flow conditions are analyzed, and the correlation between flame features and hydrogen injection conditions is obtained. These flame features include the vertical range, the flow direction position of the peak flame, the flow direction position of the centroid, the vertical position of the centroid, the flame area, and the flame circumference. For the present cases, the flame of 4.0 Mpa is more unstable than that of 1.5 Mpa under any flow conditions. Moreover, an experiment based on feature extraction results shows that the KNN (K-nearest neighbor) classifier could achieve high accuracy for flame state recognition in this scramjet combustor.     

Characteristics of the hydrogen jet combustion through multiport injector arrays in a scramjet combustor

Large eddy simulation of the hydrogen jet combustion in a cavity-stabilized scramjet combustor with three parallel injectors is performed in this study, the emphasis of which is placed on the turbulent flame regime as well as the overall performance analysis. This combustor operates in a scramjet mode with a global equivalence ratio of 0.124, as the chemical heat released is not enough to form thermal chocking. The code framework utilizes an adaptive central-upwind weighted essentially non-oscillatory scheme with a low numerical dissipation to accurately capture turbulent structures in the flowfields, and an assumed probability density function approach to close the terms of the production rate of species. Turbulent fluctuations in the incoming boundary layer are initiated and sustained by a multi-wall recycling/rescaling technique, augmenting the mixing degree of the jet and crossflow. The numerical results show that the large scale vortices between the adjacent jet wakes interfere with each other in the downstream, resulting in a portion of the premixed flame. However, the turbulent diffusion combustion still dominates the whole combustor, occurring in a widespread range of Mach number. And the violent chemical reaction favours a high-temperature environment with a proper scalar dissipation rate. The diameter of multiple jets is smaller in comparison to that of the single injection, so that its penetration height is a little lower under the same spout pressure. Altogether, the parallel injection strategy is beneficial to improve the overall combustor performance, and will not lead to excessive total pressure loss.     

Simulations of spray autoignition and flame establishment with two-dimensional CMC

The unsteady two-dimensional conditional moment closure (CMC) model with first-order closure of the chemistry and supplied with standard models for the conditional convection and turbulent diffusion terms has been interfaced with a commercial engine CFD code and analyzed with two numerical methods, an “exact” calculation with the method of lines and a faster fractional-step method. The aim was to examine the sensitivity of the predictions to the operator splitting errors and to identify the extent to which spatial transport terms are important for spray autoignition problems. Despite the underlying simplifications, solution of the full CMC equations allows a single model to be used for the autoignition, flame propagation (“premixed mode”), and diffusion flame mode of diesel combustion, which makes CMC a good candidate model for practical engine calculations. It was found that (i) the conditional averages have significant spatial gradients before ignition and during the premixed mode and (ii) that the inclusion of physical-space transport affects the calculation of the autoignition delay time, both of which suggest that volume-averaged CMC approaches may be inappropriate for diesel-like problems. A balance of terms in the CMC equation before and after autoignition shows the relative magnitude of spatial transport and allows conjectures on the structure of the premixed phase of diesel combustion. Very good agreement with available experimental data is found concerning ignition delays and the effect of background air turbulence on them.     

Numerical simulation of the interaction between shock train and combustion in three-dimensional M12-02 scramjet model

The characteristics of combustion flow fields and performance for hypersonic M12-02 scramjet were numerically simulated and analyzed. The compressible two-equation k-w SST turbulence model was employed for the turbulence model and the 9-species, 27-reaction-step hydrogen-air reaction mechanism was used as the reaction kinetics model. The numerical method was verified and a good agreement was obtained between the results of the numerical simulations and the experimental data. The results showed that shock waves from the upper and lower walls respectively crossed with each other near the central axis, forming a ‘diamond’ shape in the high-temperature combustion region. Compared to the conventional scramjet engine, most of the fuel reaction was in pure supersonic combustion mode for this hypersonic scramjet engine. Changes in the distribution of fuel on the upper and lower walls could have an appreciable impact on the combustion flow field. Average fuel distribution between upper and lower walls is benefit for combustion enhancement while the heat transfer in the corner of the side wall is severe and should be avoided during operation. The flame investigation showed that it cannot automatically predict the flame surface temperature in advance only based on the equivalence ratio Φ according to diffusion combustion theory. Compared to Φ = 1.0 condition, the flame surface temperature for Φ = 0.8 condition is higher as the complicated interaction between shock waves and combustion, which makes the local air temperature and mixing extent in flame surface is more appropriate. However, in terms of the overall engine performance, the Φ = 1.0 condition has the better combustion efficiency along the whole flow path.     

Preliminary Investigation of Full Model of Two—Mode Scramjet

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Numerical investigation on implications of four strut injectors on combustion characteristics of a Doubly-Dual cavity-based scramjet combustor

The present study numerically investigates the implications of four strut injector on combustion characteristics of a hydrogen fueled doubly-dual cavity based scramjet combustor. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is adopted to reveal the combustion characteristics of the doubly-dual cavity based scramjet combustor. Firstly, the fluid flow characteristics of a three strut injector are compared with four strut injector to highlight the influence of 4-strut injector. Thereafter, a separate study is carried out to investigate the influence of Mach number on the performance of the combustor. Our study reveals that the four strut injector arrangement greatly affects the shock wave interaction like, shock-shock and the shock-shear layer which leads to enhance the formation of vortices and recirculation region as compared to the three strut injector arrangement. In addition, introduction of 4-strut injectors found to result in better mixing and complete combustion as evidenced by the higher static temperature and the lesser amount of oxygen mass fraction at the outlet of the combustor.Also, the flame blow out condition is seen at the trailingedge of a strut and found to be minimum when 4 strut arrangement is use dowing to maximum value of OH mass fraction. Further, the higher air-fuel mixing rate is observed at Mach 2.5 of the free stream of their inlet which aids to stabilize the flame leading to complete combustion.     

双燃料发动机的燃烧模型

针对双燃料发动机燃烧特性，建立了柴油喷雾扩散燃烧子模型和气体燃烧均质混合气火焰传播燃烧子模型，应用该模型研究了双燃料发动机燃烧机理，计算结果和实验结果相当吻合。计算表明：当引燃柴油比例较大时，双燃料发动机燃烧过程以喷雾混合控制燃烧为主，柴油喷雾扩散燃烧模型与实测较吻合；当柴油比例较小时，该过程以均质混合气火焰传播燃烧为主，均质混合气火焰传播燃烧模型与实测软吻合。计算结果表明，引燃柴油量对双燃料发动机性能影响较大，引燃柴油减少，着火滞燃期延长，缸内最大爆发压力升高。     

Investigation of flow characteristics in supersonic combustion ramjet combustor toward improvement of combustion efficiency

Supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) is a variant of ramjet in which the combustion takes place at supersonic velocity. The flow physics inside the scramjet combustor is quite complex due to the fact that the mixing and completion of the combustion take place in a short time, which is of the order of milliseconds. This study focuses on flow characteristics within the combustion chamber of the scramjet engine that is designed to improve energy efficiency by enhancing combustion efficiency. The effect on combustion performance and thereby the energy efficiency on using strut‐based flame stabilizer is evaluated at different positions. Reynolds averaged Navier‐Stokes equations are solved with the Shear Stress Transport k‐ω turbulence model. Single strut configuration is used to validate with the experimental data. Single strut is then compared with three‐strut configuration. In the three‐strut configuration, the location of the primary strut is kept constant, and the secondary struts are relocated in x and y directions. Combustion performance was evaluated for the cases of flow from primary strut only and through three struts. It was found that the placement of secondary strut in a three‐strut configuration plays a vital role in improving energy efficiency. A maximum of 33.86% improvement in combustion efficiency was observed in comparison to the single strut combustor. A reduction in unburned fuel was observed, making the system more energy efficient. If the struts are not placed optimally, the combustion performance of the combustor was observed to be lower than that of a single‐strut configuration. The shock reflection and expansion fans within the primary combustion zone and the secondary strut region enhance the combustion efficiency. The wall static pressure was observed to increase with the addition of secondary struts. For certain strut configurations, flow separation was seen on the combustor walls. If the secondary strut was placed close to the primary strut, combustion efficiency was found to enhance. It was seen that combustion efficiency was also enhanced for the cases of reacting flow from primary strut only. It could also help to increase fuel efficiency, as additional fuel is not supplied to the secondary strut, making the overall system energy efficient. As the secondary strut is introduced, total pressure loss also increases. It could also be noted that if the combustor length was increased, there could be further increased in combustion efficiency.