The cooling channel of a scramjet is the fundamental structure of the active
thermal protection for an engine. Till now, studies have focused mainly on
the steady-state flow and heat transfer process in the cooling
channel. However, the vibration intensity of an engine increases sharply as the
flight speed increases, because of which, the flow and heat exchange
mechanisms based on the cooling channel under stable conditions cannot be
applied under vibration. In this study, experimental methods are used to
study the characteristics of the forced vibration of a cooling channel on the
flow and heat transfer of hydrocarbon fuel at supercritical pressure. In
addition, the influences of different vibration frequencies and vibration
amplitudes on the flow and heat transfer are analyzed. The research results
show that at supercritical pressure, when the fuel temperature is below the
critical temperature and the inner wall temperature is above the critical
temperature, external vibrations would enhance the heat transfer
characteristics of the cooling channel. However, when the pressure and
temperature are unstable, the forced vibration of the cooling channel would
suppress the instability of temperature and pressure while strengthening the
heat exchange.