Aerodynamic investigation of the shock train in a scramjet with the effects of backpressure and divergent angles

Abstract

Numerical simulations are carried out to study the effect of divergence angle and adverse pressure gradient on the movement of a shock wave train in a scramjet isolator. The commercial software tool ANSYS Fluent 16 was used to simplify the two-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation with the compressible fluid flow by considering the densitybased solver with the standard k-ε turbulence model. The species transport model with a single-step volumetric reaction mechanism is employed. Initially, the simulated results are validated with experimental results available in the open literature. The obtained results show that the variation of the divergence angle and backpressure on the scramjet isolator has greater significance on the flow field. Also, with an increase in the backpressure, due to the intense turbulent combustion, the shock wave train developed should expand along the length and also move towards the leading edge of the isolator leading to a rapid rise in the pressure so that the pressure at the entrance of the isolator can match the enhanced backpressures.

Numerical investigations on the performance of a multistrut hydrogen injector in a scramjet combustor

“…This is due to the presence of a diverging portion (i.e., 3°) along the combustor's upper wall, leading to maximum pressure observed near the bottom wall of the combustor. [63][64][65] The constriction of this reaction zone occurs at x ≈ 0.19 m where the pressure reduces drastically and then a moderate increase in pressure at x ≈ 0.21 m owing to shock reflection at the bottom wall. The static pressure decreases downstream of the location due to the acceleration of the flow to supersonic speed.…”