Experimental Study of Strut Injectors for Scramjet Combustors: Total Pressure Losses in a Selected<br /> Supersonic Streamwise Vortex Interaction Mode

Abstract

The characterization of total pressure losses and mixing effectiveness are enabling parameters in the assessment of the performance of an injection system suitable for scramjet engines. This work is focused on the characterization of the total pressure losses associated with a selected vortex interaction process in a Mach 2.5 flow in order to better understand the role of the resulting vortex dynamics in the operation of future scramjet combustors. Measurements are taken in a cold-flow supersonic wind tunnel by means of in-stream Pitot and total temperature probes at two spanwise stations located in a shock-free region of the test section as demonstrated by shadowgraph photography. Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry is also used in conjunction with the intrusive measurement techniques to calculate the total pressure and all the related thermodynamic properties of the flow. The losses introduced by the vortices are quantified and found to stay approximately constant along the flowfield.