Numerical study of innovative scramjet inlets coupled to combustors using hydrocarbon-air mixture

The research objective is to use high-fidelity multi-physics Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis to characterize 3-D scramjet flowfields in two novel streamline traced circular configurations without axisymmetric profiles. This work builds on a body of research conducted over the past several years. In addition, this research provides the modeling and simulation support, prior to ground (wind tunnel) and flight experiment programs. Two innovative inlets, Jaws and Scoop, are analyzed and compared to a Baseline inlet, a current state of the art rectangular inlet used as a baseline for on/off-design conditions. The flight trajectory conditions selected were Mach 6 and a dynamic pressure of 1,500 psf (71.82 kPa), corresponding to a static pressure of 43.7 psf (2.09 kPa) and temperature of 400.8 R° (222.67 C°). All inlets are designed for equal flight conditions, equal contraction ratios and exit cross-sectional areas, thus facilitating their comparison and integration to a common combustor design.;Analysis of these hypersonic inlets was performed to investigate distortion effects downstream in common generic combustors. These combustors include a single cavity acting as flame holder and strategically positioned fuel injection ports. This research not only seeks to identify the most successful integrated scramjet inlet/combustor design, but also investigates the flow physics and quantifies the integrated performance impact of the two novel scramjet inlet designs. It contributes to the hypersonic air-breathing community by providing analysis and predictions on directly-coupled combustor numerical experiments for developing pioneering inlets or nozzles for scramjets.;Several validations and verifications of General Propulsion Analysis Chemical-kinetic and Two-phase (GPACT), the CFD tool, were conducted throughout the research. In addition, this study uses 13 gaseous species and 20 reactions for an Ethylene/air finite-rate chemical model. The key conclusions of this research are: (1) Flow distortion in the innovative inlets is similar to some of the distortion in the Baseline inlet, despite design differences. In both innovative inlets, the resulting flowfield distortions were due to shock boundary layer interactions similar to those found in the Baseline. The Baseline and Jaws performance attributes are stronger than Scoop, but Jaws accomplishes this while eradicating the cowl lip interaction, and lessening the total drag and spillage penalties. (2) The innovative inlets work best on-design, whereas for off-design, the traditional inlet yields a higher performance. Although the innovative inlets' designs mitigated some of the issues encountered in traditional configurations, they underperform at off-design conditions. The strategy used in Jaws was less prone to interaction with the near wall flow, and yields lesser pressure losses and higher efficiency at on-design conditions compared to the others. In general, the overall values for Scoop seem lowest of all due to lesser entrainment. Its drag coefficient and thrust to mass capture ratios are higher than the Baseline configuration. (3) Early pressure losses and flow distortions actually aid downstream combustion in all cases. Although interactions captured by the viscous simulations for the on-design conditions increase losses in the inlets, they enhance turbulence in the isolator, favoring the mixing of air and fuel, and improving the overall factor of the system. Jaws inlet demonstrates the most valuable design with higher performance, but its factor later in the combustor drops relative to its rectangular counterpart. (4) A parametric study of the location and direction of injection is conducted to select the configuration for fuel penetration, mixing factor (factor) and other combustion qualities. Although the trends observed with and without chemical reactions are the same, the former yields roughly 10% higher mixing factor. Unlike at frozen conditions, when chemical reactions are considered, a high compression area was observed upstream of the cavity, not present when modeling Jaws. The upstream reactions from the cavity have a significant impact on the development of the shear layers and downstream development of the entire combustion. (5) Steady and unsteady simulations are conducted to characterize the ignition process, flame anchoring and flashback effects. This unsteadiness enlarges the circulation region in and around the cavity, allowing the reactions to propagate forward through the shear layer, and increases the mixing factor. In Scoop, these effects are exacerbated due to the thicker low energy profile surrounding the walls and most of the lower section of the combustor. In the steady assumptions, the forward reactions and their effects are positioned farthest upstream, closest to the combustor entrance. (6) Unsteady Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (URANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) modeling are compared to explore overall flow structure and for comparison of individual numerical methods. In URANS, the flashback effects are midway between the entrance and the step, whereas in LES, this effect is near the edge of the step in addition to yielding a higher combustion factor. Thus, the turbulence model and inflow assumptions can critically affect the total outcome of such devices.