Analysis of inner flow and outflow characteristics of different scramjet elliptical holes

Abstract

ABSTRACT The elliptical hole has the potential to promote jet breakup and improve atomization and mixing quality. The flow behavior in the nozzle and the outflow characteristics have an important influence on the atomization and mixing process of the downstream fuel. Therefore, the inner cavitation flow processes and outflow characteristics for elliptical holes for scramjet engine at injection pressures of 3 MPa and 5 MPa were investigated using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method and Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The numerical findings demonstrated that the cavitation region and vortex structures of elliptical holes mainly appeared on the long axial plane. The cavitation intensity of elliptical holes was weaker than that of the circular hole. Compared with the circular hole, the gas phase volume fraction of elliptical hole with the aspect ratio of 4 was reduced by about 22.1 and 21.1% respectively under 3MPa and 5MPa injection pressure. The application of elliptical holes inhibited the generation of cavitation and had large mass flow rate and flow coefficient. The mass flow rate of the elliptical hole with the aspect ratio of 4 was the largest, and the mass flow rate increased by about 5.1% compared with that of the circular hole. Elliptical holes showed a smaller velocity coefficient and a larger area coefficient when cavitation existed. The elliptical hole with the aspect ratio of 4 held the smallest velocity coefficient and largest area coefficient, with the difference of 12.1% and 18.9% respectively from the circular hole. Another important point was that elliptical holes enhanced the turbulent disturbance at the hole outlet, which facilitated the breakup of downstream jet.