Combustion modes around hypersonic projectiles

This work provides new experiments which detail the flow field characteristics around a blunt projectile traveling hypersonically in a reactive mixture using simultaneous planar laser-induced fluoresence and schlieren imaging, and stagnation pressure history measurements. The flow fields are generated using an expansion tube facility which accelerates a reactive mixture to supersonic speeds. The physical characteristics and the performance of the expansion tube are discussed. A blunt projectile is fixed at the exit of the tube and laser-based diagnostics are used to image the resulting combustion.; Experimental results obtained here as well as results obtained from the literature suggest that for steady combustion to occur in supersonic reactive flow fields two conditions must be satisfied: (1) the post-shock induction time along the stagnation line should be much smaller than the time required for the shocked particles to reach the body; (2) the flow velocity relative to the projectile has to be larger than the mixture's Chapman-Jouget detonation velocity.; For the unsteady flows, the measured frequency of oscillations decreases with increasing body diameter, mixture sensitivity, and free stream pressure. Dimensional analysis of the experimental results suggests that the dominant oscillations are due to disturbances reflecting off the cylinder body, in agreement with models proposed previously.; Analogies are made between the flow fields observed in these experiments and those of 1-D pulsed detonations, and deflagration to detonation transitions. A theory for prediction of detonation initiation by blunted projectiles traveling at the Chapman-Jouget detonation speeds is modified here to be applicable to projectiles traveling at lower velocities. The modified theory is used to identify the boundaries of the different combustion modes as a function of projectile Mach number and mixture initial pressure. Results from the ballistic range experiments, computational fluid dynamic studies, detonation initiation experiments, and from the experiments reported here are mapped out on a plot of projectile Mach number versus mixture initial pressure. Use of the proposed map will allow for prediction of the resulting combustion mode around supersonic projectiles from knowledge of the projectile geometry, Mach number, and the mixture initial conditions.