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Combustion enhancement in a scramjet engine using oxygen enrichment and porous fuel injection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2015

Bianca R. Capra ,
R. R. Boyce ,
M. Kuhn  and
H. Hald
Bianca R. Capra*
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George St, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
R. R. Boyce
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Canberra, PO Box 7916, Canberra, BC 2610, Australia
M. Kuhn
Affiliation:
Space Systems Integration, Institute of Structures and Design, German Aerospace Center (DLR) Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569, Germany
H. Hald
Affiliation:
Space Systems Integration, Institute of Structures and Design, German Aerospace Center (DLR) Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569, Germany
*
†Email address for correspondence: b.capra@qut.edu.au
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Abstract

This paper reports on the experimental testing of oxygen-enriched porous fuel injection in a scramjet engine. Fuel was injected via inlet mounted, oxide-based ceramic matrix composite (CMC) injectors on both flow path surfaces that covered a total of 9.2 % of the intake surface area. All experiments were performed at an enthalpy of $3.93{-}4.25\pm 3.2\,\%~\text{MJ}~\text{kg}^{-1}$, flight Mach number 9.2–9.6 and an equivalence ratio of $0.493\pm 3\,\%$. At this condition, the engine was shown to be on the verge of achieving appreciable combustion. Oxygen was then added to the fuel prior to injection such that two distinct enrichment levels were achieved. Combustion was found to increase, by as much as 40 % in terms of combustion-induced pressure rise, over the fuel-only case with increasing oxygen enrichment. Further, the onset of combustion was found to move upstream with increasing levels of oxygen enrichment. Thrust, both uninstalled and specific, and specific impulse were found to be improved with oxygen enrichment. Enhanced fuel–air mixing due to the pre-mixing of oxygen with the fuel together with the porous fuel injection are believed to be the main contributors to the observed enhanced performance of the tested engine.

JFM classification

Reacting Flows: Combustion Aerodynamics: High-speed flow Low-Reynolds-number flows: Porous media
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 767 , 25 March 2015 , pp. 173 - 198
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Copyright
© 2015 Cambridge University Press 

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