Liquid-Fueled Strut-Based Scramjet Combustor Design: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach

TLDR: In this paper, a full-scale scramjet combustor with kerosene fuel injected from struts placed in the combustor flowpath was designed and analyzed using computational-fluid-dynamics software.

Abstract: Computational-fluid-dynamics-based design and analysis is presented for a full-scale scramjet combustor with kerosene fuel injected from struts placed in the combustor flowpath. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a K-e turbulence model using commercial computational-fluid-dynamics software. Combustion is modeled based on infinitely fast chemical kinetics. Lagrangian dispersed-phase analysis is considered for fueldroplet evaporation and mixing in the supersonic stream. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effect of combustor-inlet Mach number and total pressure on the flow development process. A higher combustor-entry Mach number and distributed-fuel-injection system will ensure the existence of predominant supersonic flow in the combustor. Simulations are also carried out to investigate two different kinds of fuel injection struts in the scramjet combustor performance. A distributed-fuel -injection system, required to avoid thermal choking, increases the three-dimensionality of the flowfield.