Scramjet engines are the focus of considerable interest for propulsion in the hypersonic flow regime. One of the serious technical challenges for developing scramjets is reducing the skin friction drag on the engine. The combustion chamber, in particular, is a major contributor to the skin friction drag because of the high density of the flow through that region. This investigation focuses on reducing the combustion chamber skin friction drag by minimising the surface area and size of the combustion chamber and by employing a novel approach to accomplishing combustion. The first design criterion is addressed by using a single internal-combustor scramjet configuration, as opposed to multiple external combustors, and by injecting the fuel on the intake to reduce the mixing length required in the combustor. The second design criterion refers to the use of a new technique called radical farming. This uses the highly two-dimensional nature of the flow through the engine, which is created by deliberately ingesting the leading edge shocks, to achieve combustion at lower mean static pressures and temperatures than generally expected. A simplified approximate theoretical analysis of the radical farming concept is presented. Experiments were conducted in the T4 free-piston shock tunnel on a scramjet model with a single rectangular constant cross-sectional area combustion chamber. Pressure measurements were taken along the centreline of the intake, combustion chamber and thrust surface and across the model width at three locations. Gaseous hydrogen fuel was injected halfway along the intake at a range of equivalence ratios between zero and one. The combustion chamber height was varied from 20mm to 32mm, which varied the contraction ratio of the engine from 4.1 to 2.9. The experiments were conducted at a stagnation enthalpy of either 3MJ/kg or 4MJ/kg. The nominal 3MJ/kg condition corresponds to Mach 7.9 flight at an altitude of 24km. The majority of the 4MJ/kg experiments were conducted at a nominal condition corresponding to Mach 9.1 flight at an altitude of 32km. A small number of 4MJ/kg experiments were conducted at simulated flight altitudes of between 30 and 38km; the flight Mach number for these experiments was approximately 9.0. Thrust was calculated by integrating the centreline pressure distribution over the area of the thrust surface, assuming that the pressure at any axial location was constant across the engine width. These experimental thrust values were compared with theoretical estimates obtained using a one-dimensional analysis and a quasi-two-dimensional analysis. The comparison provided an indication of the level of completion of combustion in the experiments. The difference in thrust produced as a result of combusting fuel was examined by plotting the incremental specific impulse against equivalence ratio. Experimental and theoretical results agreed best at the higher equivalence ratios. Turbulent boundary layer separation correlations were used to provide reasonable estimates for the equivalence ratio at which the flow choked. The drag on the internal flowpath of the scramjet engine was estimated using the quasi-two-dimensional analysis. This drag estimate was combined with the experimental thrust measurements to provide estimates of the net specific impulse. Positive net specific impulse estimates were obtained above a certain minimum equivalence ratio, which depended on the contraction ratio and the test condition. The engine performance was observed to be highly dependent on the two-dimensional shock structure within the engine. Thrust and specific impulse were observed to decrease with increasing simulated flight altitude, as expected. Positive net specific impulse estimates were obtained at equivalence ratios of approximately one for simulated flight altitudes below 35km. Assuming complete combustion and that an equivalence ratio of one can be reached, the configuration considered in the present study can theoretically reach a net specific impulse of approximately 1000s at the 3MJ/kg condition and 500s at the 4MJ/kg condition. These numbers provide a promising testimonial for the use of this configuration, with modifications, as a more efficient alternative to rocket engines.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 57).

<div>A sharp, circular 7° half-angle cone was tested in the Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel</div><div>at 6° angle of attack, extending several previous experiments on the growth and breakdown of</div><div>stationary crossflow instabilities in the boundary layer. </div><div><br></div><div>Measurements were made using infrared</div><div>imaging and surface pressure sensors. Detailed measurements of the stationary and traveling</div><div>crossflow vortices, as well as various secondary instability modes, were collected over a large</div><div>region of the cone.</div><div><br></div><div>The Rod Insertion Method (RIM) roughness, first developed for use on a flared cone, was</div><div>adapted for application to crossflow work. It was demonstrated that the roughness elements were</div><div>the primary factor responsible for the appearance of the specific pattern of stationary streaks</div><div>downstream, which are the footprints of the stationary crossflow vortices. In addition, a roughness</div><div>insert was created with a high RMS level of normally-distributed roughness to excite the naturally</div><div>most-amplified stationary mode.</div><div><br></div><div>The nonlinear breakdown mechanism induced by each type of roughness appears to be</div><div>different. When using the discrete RIM roughness, the dominant mechanism seems to be the</div><div>modulated second mode, which is significantly destabilized by the large stationary vortices. This</div><div>is consistent with recent computations. There is no evidence of the presence of traveling crossflow</div><div>when using the RIM roughness, though surface measurements cannot provide a complete picture.</div><div>The modulated second mode shows strong nonlinearity and harmonic development just prior</div><div>to breakdown. In addition, pairs of hot streaks merge together within a constant azimuthal</div><div>band, leading to a peak in the heating simultaneously with the peak amplitude of the measured</div><div>secondary instability. The heating then decays before rising again to turbulent levels. This nonmonotonic</div><div>heating pattern is reminiscent of experiments on a flared cone and earlier computations</div><div>of crossflow on an elliptic cone.</div><div><br></div><div>When using the distributed roughness there are several differences in the nonlinear breakdown</div><div>behavior. The hot streaks appear to be much more uniform and form at a higher wavenumber,</div><div>which is expected given computational results. Furthermore, the traveling crossflow waves become</div><div>very prominent in the surface pressure fluctuations and weakly nonlinear. In addition there</div><div>appears in the spectra a higher-frequency peak which is hypothesized to be a type-I secondary instability</div><div>under the upwelling of the stationary vortices. The traveling crossflow and the secondary</div><div>instability interact nonlinearly prior to breakdown.</div>

<div>A 7° half-angle cone with a highly-swept fin was tested in the Boeing/AFOSR Mach-6 Quiet Tunnel at 0.0° angle of attack. Previous measurements of the surface heat transfer using temperature sensitive paint revealed heating streaks on the cone surface related to streamwise vortices generated by the fin shock. High-frequency measurements of the cone-surface pressure fluctuations revealed that transition occurs in the streak region at sufficiently-high freestream unit Reynolds numbers under quiet flow. In this work, high-resolution measurements of the surface heat transfer are obtained using infrared thermography and a polyether-ether-ketone wind-tunnel model. In addition, a novel model design made it possible to measure pressure fluctuations throughout the streak region on the cone surface.</div><div><br></div><div>A slender cone with a sharp nosetip and a fin swept back 75° with a 3.18 mm leading-edge radius served as the primary geometry for this work. Two laminar heating streaks</div><div>were measured on the cone surface. These travel along a line of nearly-constant azimuth. A hot spot develops in the streak farthest from the fin, which then moves upstream with increasing freestream Reynolds number. Downstream of this hot spot, the streaks begin to spread in azimuth. The heat transfer along the outer streak shows a threefold increase near the hot spot before decreasing back to nearly two times the laminar streak heating. The amplitude of the pressure fluctuations increases simultaneously with the heat transfer, reaching a peak of nearly 9% of the Taylor-Maccoll pressure for a 7° straight cone. Power spectral densities calculated from these fluctuations demonstrate spectral broadening, which is indicative of boundary-layer transition. Using surface-pressure-fluctuation and heat-flux measurements, transition onset was estimated to occur at an axial length Reynolds number of 2.2×10⁶. Pressure sensors that were rotated through the streak region showed that multiple instabilities amplify between the heating streaks, upstream of the transition onset location. Downstream of transition onset, the highest-amplitude instabilities are localized to the hot spot in the outer streak. The effect of freestream noise on transition was also investigated with this geometry. Under conventional noise levels, transition onset was estimated to occur at an axial length Reynolds number of 0.93×10⁶, and only one instability was measured in the streak region with a frequency similar to the second-mode instability.</div><div><br></div><div>Four configurations were tested to investigate the effect of fin sweep and nosetip bluntness under quiet flow. Fins with 70° and 75° sweep were each tested with nominally sharp and 1-mm-radius nosetips. Increasing fin sweep was shown to move the heating streaks on the cone closer to the fin and to decrease the peak-to-peak spacing of the streaks. In addition, transition onset occurred at lower freestream unit Reynolds numbers for the 70° sweep case. Increasing nosetip radius had little effect on the heating streaks, other than to delay the transition location. A blunt nosetip was shown to delay transition more for the 75° sweep fin as compared to the 70° fin. Similar instabilities were measured for all four of the configurations in this work. The frequency of the instabilities appears to be correlated with the peak-to-peak distance of the heating streaks, which can be viewed as an indirect measurement of the vortex diameter.</div><div><br></div><div>Lastly, the first quantitative measurements of heat transfer on the fin were made using the infrared thermography apparatus. Peak heating on the fin, not including the leading edge, is lower than peak heating rates on the cone. One broad heating streak was measured close to the corner, and smaller low-heating streaks were measured farther outboard. The heating within the streak closest to the corner was shown to agree well with a fully-laminar computed basic state, indicating that the flow on the fin is laminar up to at least 6.31×10⁶ m⁻¹. Using miniaturized Kulite sensors, pressure fluctuations were measured at twelve locations on the fin surface. No obvious conclusions could be drawn from these Kulite measurements, and there is no clear indication that transition occurs on the fin within the maximum quiet</div><div>freestream conditions.</div>

<div>Wind-tunnel experiments with a sharp 7-degree half-angle cone and a 33% scale Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) model were performed in the Boeing/AFOSR Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel to investigate the effects of forward- and backward-facing steps on boundary-layer instability and transition. Each model was modified to include intentional steps just downstream of the nosetip. Experiments were performed at different freestream Reynolds numbers and varying step sizes. Infrared thermography was used to calculate surface heat transfer, and high-frequency pressure sensors were used to measure pressure fluctuations. A replica measurement technique was used to accurately measure step heights on the BOLT flight vehicle and the wind tunnel model.</div><div><br></div><div>A 7-degree half-angle cone was tested at 0-degree and 6-degree angles of attack. Step heights ranged from 0.610 mm to 1.219 mm. At a 0-degree angle of attack, no significant increases in heat transfer were observed with any of the forward- or backward-facing steps. However, a 250 kHz instability was measured with the forward-facing steps. Growth of the instability was similar to a second-mode. At a 6-degree angle of attack, an increase in heat transfer was observed on the windward ray with the forward-facing steps. Sharp increases in heating rates and increased pressure fluctuations were indications of boundary-layer transition. Elevated heating rates and pressure fluctuations were not measured with the backward-facing steps.</div><div><br></div><div>The BOLT model was tested at 0-degree, 2-degree, and 4-degree angles of attack and 2-degree and 4-degree yaw angles. Step heights ranged from 0.076 mm to 1.016 mm. At a 0-degree angle of attack and 0-degree yaw angle, thin wedges of heating were observed with the backward-facing steps. Instabilities were measured near these wedges of heating and are thought to be caused by a secondary instability. The effects of the steps were magnified on the windward side of the BOLT model at angles of attack. Wedges of heating were wider and more intense. At higher angles of attack, the onset of heating was further upstream. Sensors near and directly underneath the wedges of heating measured pressure fluctuations that were indicative of a turbulent flow. Wedges of heating were also observed at a 4-degree yaw angle, but only with the 1.016 mm backward-facing step.</div>

<p>Hypersonic flow over two generic missile configurations was investigated using CFD meth-</p> <p>ods. CFD results were compared with experimental results obtained by the hypersonic flight</p> <p>lab at Texas A&M University. Baseline RANS computations involving the missile configurations at a zero deg angle-of-attack were performed, along with computations at higher angles-of-attack. As the angle-of-attack was increased, complex vortex interactions were observed in the region between the fins. Increasing the angle-of-attack generally increased heating on the windward side of the missile geometries, especially on wall surface regions</p> <p>adjacent to the fin-root vortices. The results presented highlight observed fin region vortices and regions of intense heating on the body surface. DES simulations methods were also used to explore unsteady aspects of flow around the two generic missile configurations through time-accurate CFD simulations. Power spectral plots were generated to quantify the dominant frequencies of large-scale unsteadiness.</p>

One-Dimensional modeling of dual mode scramjet and ramjet flowpaths is a useful tool for scramjet conceptual design and wind tunnel testing. In this thesis, modeling tools that enable detailed analysis of the flow physics within the combustor are developed as part of a new one-dimensional MATLAB-based model named VTMODEL. VTMODEL divides a ramjet or scramjet flow path into four major components: inlet, isolator, combustor, and nozzle. The inlet module provides two options for supersonic inlet one-dimensional calculations; a correlation from MIL Spec 5007D, and a kinetic energy efficiency correlation. The kinetic energy efficiency correlation also enables the user to account for inlet heat transfer using a total temperature term in the equation for pressure recovery. The isolator model also provides two options for calculating the pressure rise and the isolator shock train. The first model is a combined Fanno flow and oblique shock system. The second model is a rectangular shock train correlation. The combustor module has two options for the user in regards to combustion calculations. The first option is an equilibrium calculation with a "growing combustion sphere" combustion efficiency model, which can be used with any fuel. The second option is a non-equilibrium reduced-order hydrogen calculation which involves a mixing correlation based on Mach number and distance from the fuel injectors. This model is only usable for analysis of combustion with hydrogen fuel. Using the combustion reaction models, the combustor flow model calculates changes in Mach number and flow properties due to the combustion process and area change, using an influence coefficient method. This method also can take into account heat transfer, change in specific heat ratio, change in enthalpy, and other thermodynamic properties. The thesis provides a description of the flow models that were assembled to create VTMODEL. In calculated examples, flow predictions from VTMODEL were compared with experimental data obtained in the University of Virginia supersonic combustion wind tunnel, and with reported results from the scramjet models SSCREAM and RJPA. Results compared well with the experiment and models, and showed the capabilities provided by VTMODEL. / Master of Science

An integrated aerodynamic-ramp-injector/plasma-torch-igniter of original design was tested in a Mâ = 2, unvitiated, heated flow facility arranged as a diverging duct scramjet combustor. The facility operated at a total temperature of 1000 K and total pressure of 330 kPa. Hydrogen (H2), ethylene (C2H4) and methane (CH4) were used as fuels, and a wide range of global equivalence ratios were tested. The main data obtained were wall static pressure measurements, and the presence of combustion was determined based on the pressure rises obtained. Supersonic and dual-mode combustion were achieved with hydrogen and ethylene fuel, whereas very limited heat release was obtained with the methane. Global operability limits were determined to be 0.07 < Ï < 0.31 for hydrogen, and 0.14 < Ï < 0.48 for ethylene. The hydrogen fuel data for the aeroramp/torch system was compared to data from a physical 10 unswept compression ramp injector and similar performance was found with the two arrangements. With hydrogen and ethylene as fuels and the aeroramp/plasma-torch system, the effect of varying the air total temperature was investigated. Supersonic combustion was achieved with temperatures as low as 530K and 680K for the two fuels, respectively. These temperatures are facility/operational limits, not combustion limits. The pressure profiles were analyzed using the Ramjet Propulsion Analysis (RJPA) code. Results indicate that both supersonic and dual-mode ramjet combustion were achieved. Combustion efficiencies varied with Ï from a high of about 75% to a low of about 45% at the highest Ï . With a theoretical diffuser and nozzle assumed for the configuration and engine, thrust was computed for each fuel. Fuel specific impulse was on average 3000 and 1000 seconds for hydrogen and ethylene respectively, and air specific impulse varied from a low of about 9 sec to a high of about 24 sec (for both fuels) for the To = 1000K test condition. The GASP RANS code was used to numerically simulate the injection and mixing process of the fuels. The results of this study were very useful in determining the suitability of the selected plasma torch locations. Further, this tool can be used to determine whether combustion is theoretically possible or not. / Ph. D.

A flush-wall injector model and a strut injector model representative of state of the art scramjet engine combustion chambers were experimentally studied in a cold-flow (non-combusting) environment to determine their fuel-air mixing behavior under different operating conditions. The experiments were run at nominal freestream Mach numbers of 2 and 4, which simulates combustor conditions for nominal flight Mach numbers of 5 and 10. The flush-wall injector model consists of sixteen inclined, round, sonic injectors distributed around the wall of a circular duct. The strut injector model has sixteen inclined, round, sonic injectors distributed across four struts within a circular duct. The struts are slender, inclined at a low angle to minimize drag, and have two injectors on each side. The experiments investigated the effects of injectant molecular weight, freestream Mach number, and jet-to-freestream momentum flux ratio on the fuel-air mixing process. Helium, methane, and air injectants were studied to vary the injectant molecular weight over the range of 4-29. All of these experiments were performed to support the needs of an integrated experimental and computational research program, which has the goal of upgrading the turbulence models that are used for Computational Fluid Dynamics predictions of the flow inside a scramjet combustor. The primary goals of this study were to use injector models that represent state of the art scramjet engine combustion chambers to provide validation data to support the development of turbulence model upgrades and to add to the sparse database of mixing results in such configurations. The main experimental results showed that higher molecular weight injectants had approximately the same amount of penetration in the far field as lower molecular weight injectants at the same jet-to-freestream momentum flux ratio. Higher molecular weight injectants also demonstrated a mixing rate that was the same as or slower than lower molecular weight injectants depending on the flow conditions. A comparison of the experimental results for the two different injector models revealed that the flush-wall injector mixed significantly faster than the strut injector in all of the experimental cases. / Ph. D.

A series of experiments were carried out in Purdue University’s Boeing/AFOSR Mach6 Quiet Tunnel, to understand the amplification of streamwise vortices across a separated region in a quiet flow regime. Streamwise vortices were induced on the upstream end of an axisymmetric model consisting of a 7-degree half-angle cone, a cylinder, and a 10-degree flare. The instabilities were seeded using a pre-existing set of roughness inserts, with small, discrete roughness elements. The elements varied in spacing, height, and number of elements. The model was aligned to near 0.0 degree angle of attack. <div><br></div><div>The streamwise, Gortler-like instabilities travelled across the separated region onto the flare, where they were measured with pressure transducers and infrared thermography. The amplification of the instabilities was measured at a variety of Reynolds numbers, under both quiet and conventional noise flow. The results were compared to those of a smooth insert. Heat transfer results showed a streaking pattern, with a peak in heating visible in the streak. Heat flux increased linearly with Reynolds number. If transition was induced, the heat flux would begin to decrease. Power spectral density measurements of the pressure fluctuations indicated that the region within the streak contained two notable instabilities, one between 70 and 150 kHz, and one between 200 and 250 kHz. Transition was only measured in the spectral content in the region on the flare where a ”filling in” of streaks was visible in heat transfer results. Heat flux increased in an nonlinear manner with increasing roughness height. </div><div><br></div><div>The streak positioning and peak heat flux showed a high sensitivity to small, uncontrollable changes in run conditions throughout. Heat transfer results were largely repeatable for small angles of attack, less than 0.1 degrees. The streaks shifted slightly in width and position for angles of attack near 0.1 degrees. Small changes in the streak positioning and heat transfer magnitude were seen in repeatability runs; this is mostly attributable to small changes in initial run conditions. </div>