Role of the Backward-Facing Steps at Two Struts on Mixing and Combustion Characteristiucs in a Typical Strut-Based Scramjet

Abstract

The design of the strut fuel injector plays an important role in the performance of the strut-based scramjet combustor. The current study numerically investigates the flow and combustion characteristics of a scramjet combustor. An in-house code was developed to compute the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with the SST k  turbulence model and the one-step reaction finite-rate/eddy-dissipation model. In order to enhance the mixing and combustion efficiency, we develop a novel double-strut concept in the scramjet combustor. Firstly, the numerical methods are validated by the available experimental data in open literature. Then we compare the mixing and combustion performance between the single-strut and the double-strut cases. The numerical results show an acceptable agreement with the experimental results. The presence of the double struts has a remarkable enhancement on the mixing and combustion efficiency in the scramjet combustor when compared with the original single strut.