Title: Numerical simulation of the supersonic combustion of kerosene in a model combustor

Authors: A. Rajasekaran, G. Satishkumar, V. Babu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, 600 036 India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, 600 036 India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, 600 036 India

Abstract: Numerical simulations of the 3D reacting flow in a model supersonic combustor with kerosene as the fuel have been carried out. The combustor entry Mach number is nominally 2.5. Tetrahedral grids with wall y⁺ less than 75 have been used. Details of the flow field inside the combustor such as contours of static pressure, static temperature, species mass fraction, reaction rate and Mach number are discussed. Also, the variation of metrics such as combustion efficiency and total pressure loss along the length of the combustor are presented. Predicted values of wall static pressure along the top wall of the combustor are compared with previously reported experimental data. The calculations over predict the pressure rise due to combustion in the cavity region, but the overall pressure rise is predicted well.

Keywords: supersonic combustion; kerosene fuel; scramjet engines; numerical simulation; 3D reacting flow; CFD; computational fluid dynamics; supersonic flow; static pressure; static temperature; species mass fraction; reaction rate; Mach number; combustion efficiency; total pressure loss; hypersonic flight.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2009.022306

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2009 Vol.9 No.1, pp.30 - 42

Published online: 29 Dec 2008 *

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