ABSTRACT

Ke\ words: CavIl\ flow. Supersonic Mixing, Supersonic Combustion

Rocket Based Combined C ycle (RI3CC) propulsion system is being recognized as

a promising technolo gy holding the advantage of' combined rocket and air breathing

elements of' the engine and having high specific impulse to operate over a wide range of

Mach numbers. Since there is no single propulsion system capable of operating over the

entire ran ,-, e. hhrid ehicles have been evolved. Such system comprises of' different

re g imes of' fli g ht and has both air breathing and non-air breathing stages.

In the air breathing stage of' the hypersonic vehicles the perfrmance of' the

conentional ramjet engine falls below unacceptable level due to dissociation and shock

losses. This necessitates the introduction of supersonic combustion ramjet engine called

Scramjet engine. [he most challenging part of'the scramjet technolog) is the design and

development of' supersonic combustor. The fundamental constraints in the design of'

supersonic combustor are rapid mixing of' air and f'uel, issuing at high speed within a

short comhustoi' with effective flame stabilization and minimum sta g nation pressure loss.

[he objective of' the present work is to enhance mixing of high speed coaxial streams and

to achieve supersonic combustion with minimum stagnation pressure losses.

In the first part of ' the stud y . isothermal condition f'or both primary and secondary

aur at atmospheric condition is considered in order to investigate the characteristics of the

flo past open cavities. In the hot flow studies the thermal mixin g of' the coaxial jets

using cavities are studied. In the supersonic combustion studies cold air is admitted at the

secondar y flow path to find the supersonic combustion efficiency and in the final phase
of' the vork. air for supersonic combustion is introduced at higher temperature in the

secondary flow path to simulate the conditions of'the hypersonic flight more closely.

The experimental setup used in the study is a blow down type. which provides

coaxial jets. The primar y flow has a Mach number of 1 32 and the secondary flow is

sonic. Cavities are used as the means for the mixing and combustion of the coaxial

supersonic jets. Isothermal mixing studies reveal that cavit y configurations provide

marina1 enhancement in mixing of ' the jets with higher stagnation pressure loss than no

cavity. Mie scattering pictures show the qualitative improvement provided by the

cavities. In the hot flow studies the primary flow is maintained at a temperature of 1050K

and the secondar y is at ambient temperature. [he results show cavity configurations

provide enhancement in thermal mixing characteristics over no cavity.

Studies on supersonic combustion reveal that with the transverse injection of

secondar y Fuel. upstream of' the cavities, provide uniform temperature distribution at the

exit of' the combustor. The combustion efficiency increases with the increase in the

secondary fuel flow rate. [xperiments on high enthalpy supersonic test facility improve

the combustion efficienc y when the heated air is admitted into the combustor.

Supersonic combustion eff'iciencv of the order of 65% is observed using cavity

configurations for the secondary air temperature of 573 K over no cavity. Due to certain

limitations of' the experimental test f'acility such as producing hypersonic flow rates.

materials required for high temperatures and safi,t y aspects. the study is restricted to low

temperatures and Mach numbers than in real h y personic flight. The results obtained in

the present vork indicate the performance of' cavity configurations for mixing

augmentation with minimum stagnation pressure loss.