The Effect of Pulsed Injection on Supersonic Shear Layer Mixing in a Scramjet Combustor

Abstract

Abstract A novel injector has been designed and cold flow injection tests were performed in a modified supersonic wind tunnel. To complement these experimental studies three dimensional STAR-CCM+CFD simulations were developed. The pulse width may be varied, with options of injecting gas for 33 %, 50 % and 66 % of the injection period. The scramjet combustor environment is simulated in a supersonic wind tunnel through a backward facing step for secondary injection purposes and a 157.5 cm (62-inch) long test section. The gas in secondary injection is carbon dioxide and the primary flow is air. The simulations show a coupled interaction between the forcing from injection and the shear layer. Steady state static pressure measurements on the lower wall of the wind tunnel test section agree well with the simulated static pressure along the lower wall. The pulse width strongly impacts shear layer reattachment on the lower wall and varies between 2.4 and 4.3 step heights. Reduction in duty cycle from 66 % to 33 % at 1 kHz caused ~30 % reduction in the shear layer reattachments distance, which points to large scale mixing enhancement.