Species measurements in a hypersonic, hydrogen-air, combustion wake

Abstract

A continuously sampling, time-of-flight mass spectrometer has been used to measure relative species concentrations in a two-dimensional, hydrogen-air combustion wake at mainstream Mach numbers exceeding 5. The experiments, in a free piston shock tunnel, yielded distributions of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, water, and nitric oxide at stagnation enthalpies ranging from 5.6 MJ kg −1 to 12.2 MJ kg −1 and at a distance of approximately 100 times the thickness of the initial hydrogen jet. The amount of hydrogen mixed in stoichiometric proportions was approximately independent of the stagnation enthalpy, despite the fact that the proportion of hydrogen in the wake was increased with stagnation enthalpy. Roughly 50% of the mixed hydrogen underwent combustion at the highest enthalpy. The proportion of hydrogen reacting to water could be approximately predicted using reaction rates based on mainstream temperatures.