MCGA-assisted ignition process and flame propagation of a scramjet at Mach 2.0

The ignition process and flame propagation with ethylene fuel in cavity-stabilized scramjet by a Multi-Channel Gliding Arc(MCGA) at Mach 2.0 were investigated. Effects of equivalence ratios on the MCGA-assisted ignition process and flame propagation of the scramjet were recorded by two high-speed cameras from different view angles. The discharge characteristics of MCGA are also collected synchronously with the high-speed cameras. The distributions of temperature, velocity, and equivalence ratios...     

Time-resolved visualization of coherent structures during supersonic boundary layer transition

The coherent structures arising during flat-plate boundary layer transition at Mach number 3.4 are investigated using a custom-built hyper-rate imaging system. The evolution of transitional structures is investigated in the Eulerian and Lagrangian reference frames. The upstream evolution of transition is dominated by the generation of new hairpin structures, while the interaction among multiple structural types dominates the evolution downstream. The breakdown of the existing structure, which may be caused by interactions among multiple types of structures with similar scales, is also visualized.     

Mixing and combustion characteristics in a scramjet combustor with different distances between cavity and backward-facing step

The mixing and combustion characteristics in a cavity flameholding combustor under inlet Mach number 2.92 are numerically investigated with ethylene injection. Dimensionless distance is defined as the ratio of the actual distance to the height of the combustor entrance. The cavity shear-layer mode, the lifted cavity shear-layer mode, and jet wake mode with upstream separation are observed respectively with dimensionless distance equals to 1.5, 4.5, and 7.5. In both non-reacting and reacting flow...     

Review of atomization mechanism and spray characteristics of a liquid jet in supersonic crossflow

The injection and atomization process of a liquid fuel jet is critical for an ignition start of a scramjet engine. Airwall-mounted crossflow injection strategy is widely used in scramjet combustors, avoiding high total pressure loss and allowing the liquid fuel to rapidly undergo atomization, mixing, and evaporation. In this review, research progress on a liquid jet in supersonic crossflow was evaluated from aspects of atomization mechanism and spray characteristics. When a liquid jet is injected into a supersonic crossflow, primary and secondary breakups occur successively. The surface instability of liquid can significantly affect the breakup process. This review discusses the current understanding of the breakup process and spray characteristics of a liquid jet in supersonic crossflow including the mechanism of atomization and the characteristics of distribution and atomization. The development of windward Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) unstable waves is the main factor in column breakup. The development of Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) unstable waves along the circumferential direction of the jet or droplets is the main factor of surface and droplet breakups. The liquid–gas momentum ratio is the most important factor affecting the penetration depth. The span width of the liquid jet is affected by the windward area. Breakup and coalescence lead to a transformation of the size distribution of droplets from S- or C-shaped to I-shaped, and the velocity distribution of the droplets on the central symmetry plane has a mirrored S-shape. The droplet distribution on the spanwise cross-section retains a structure similar to an “Ω” shape. At last, some promising recommendations have been proposed, namely a theoretical predictive model which can describe the breakup mechanism of a liquid jet, the distribution characteristics and droplets size distribution of a liquid jet under a cavity combustion chamber, especially for enthalpy flows with complex wave structures.     

Far-field sonic boom prediction considering atmospheric turbulence effects: An improved approach

Accurate prediction of sonic boom is one of key challenges for the design of a low-boom supersonic aircraft. For most of available far-field prediction methods, the effect of atmospheric turbulence appearing in the planetary boundary layer cannot be considered, which results in remarkable inaccuracy of predicting ground-level sonic boom waveform. Although some efforts have been made to overcome the shortcoming, the turbulence effects are not yet well described so far. This article proposes an improved method by extending the two-dimensional Heterogeneous One-Way Approximation for the Resolution of Diffraction (HOWARD) equation to account for the axial and transverse convections of wind fluctuation as well as the effect of temperature fluctuation. The proposed method is validated by comparing the predictions with the flight-test data of JAXA D-SEND#1 LBM, which shows that the result of the proposed method is in better agreement with the flight-test data than that of the method without considering atmospheric turbulence effects. Then, distortion mechanism of sonic boom waveforms caused by atmospheric turbulence is analyzed by using the proposed method. It is indicated that the effect of turbulent convection makes uniform sonic-boom wavefronts irregular, which creates the condition of diffraction effect to perturb waveforms. Finally, the proposed method is applied to investigate the behavior of two types of waveforms given by the sonic boom minimization theory. Results show that a far-field waveform with a weaker initial shock is more beneficial for low-boom design of a supersonic aircraft.     

A numerical study of segmented cooling-stream injection in supersonic film cooling

The present study proposes a segmented cooling-stream injection structure based on a certain coolant mass flow rate, and numerically investigates the effect of segmented cooling-stream injection on supersonic film cooling. The results indicate that without shock-wave impingement and with helium as the coolant, segmented cooling-stream injection can reduce the mixing between the mainstream and the cooling stream to produce better cooling performance than single injection, especially at larger coo...     

Experimental and numerical investigation on opposing plasma synthetic jet for drag reduction

Experimental and numerical studies are carried out to validate the potential of opposing Plasma Synthetic Jet (PSJ) for drag reduction for a hemisphere. Firstly, flow field changes of opposing PSJ are analyzed by comparing the experimental schlieren images and simulation results in a supersonic free stream of Mach number 3. As PSJ is a kind of unsteady pulsed jet, the shock standoff distance increases initially and then decreases under the control of PSJ, which corresponds to the change of the strength of PSJ. Accordingly, the amount of drag reduction of the hemisphere increases initially and then decreases. It is found that there is a short period of “drag rise” during the formation of PSJ before the drag reduction, which is induced by the generation of normal shock waves and the area difference of the cavity wall of PSJ Actuator (PSJA). Secondly, the effects of five parameters, including exit diameter, discharge energy of PSJA, Mach number, static pressure of incoming flow and angle of attack, on drag reduction of opposing PSJ were studied in detail by using numerical method. It is found that the Maximum Pressure Ratio (MPR) has a significant impact on the average drag reduction for a configuration-determined PSJA. For the configuration selected in this study, the flow field of opposing PSJ shows typical Short Penetration Mode (SPM) in a control cycle of PSJ when the MPR is less than 0.89. However, the flow field shows typical Long Penetration Mode (LPM) at some time when the MPR is bigger than 0.89. Relatively better drag reduction is achieved in this case.     

Effect of Martian atmosphere on aerodynamic performance of supersonic parachute two-body systems

Supersonic flows around parachute two-body systems are numerically investigated by solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. In the present study, both rigid and flexible parachute models are considered, which comprise a capsule and a canopy. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of the Martian atmosphere on the unsteady flows produced by these parachute two-body models and the structural behavior of the flexible canopy. It was found that in the Martian atmosph...