General Hypersonic Propulsion

The proposed effort focuses on fuel/air mixing in scramjet environments, as well as on optimization of fuel injector designs and patterns. Turbulence model upgrades will focus on predicting Prandtl and Schmidt number variations using a scalar fluctuation model (SFM) validated for a limited number of cases. A GUI-driven tool containing both solution data and digitized experimental or LES data will support validation. Run sequences can be automated. Additional data sets will be added, including those of specific interest to the Air Force. Extensions to permit this tool to operate with other CFD codes will be defined. Fuel injector design work, to be performed with Prof. Schetz/VT, will examine optimizing injector designs and patterns for a generic, round IT combustor to see if we can achieve adequate mixing in reasonable lengths with flush wall injector arrays (round/diamond). Performance will be compared to that of well-designed in-stream injectors. Optimization work will evaluate how designs optimized for one set of conditions/fuels, perform for other conditions/fuels, and what design modifications are needed to improve performance. Experiments of Schetz in Phase II to support the SFM upgrades and the fuel injector optimization work will be planned and an experimental matrix will be defined.