Supersonic flow of hydrogen and air in a duct with variable area

Abstract

A chemically nonequilibrium supersonic flow of hydrogen and air has been investigated in a duct with conically divergent or convergent walls. Elementary reaction schemes of radicals involved in reaction of hydrogen-air have been considered and solved through the CHEMKIN code. The aim was to promote an understanding of characteristics of chemically nonequilibrium supersonic flow by introducing a simple mathematical formulation. The temperature, pressure, and density all were found to decrease for divergent ducts as the flow was accelerated, whereas they increased for a slightly convergent duct or a constant cross-sectional area duct. For the divergent nozzle with a greater degree the flow became chemically frozen. But it was quite necessary to take account of the effect of chemical nonequilibrium in a moderately expanded or all convergent conical ducts. As was expected, it was found that the temperature, pressure and Mach number were reduced for a fuel-lean mixture.