Inlet air and fuel flow pressure fluctuation effect on supersonic combustion

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of pressure fluctuations on the combustion efficiency of the hydrogen fuel injected into the supersonic oxidizing cross flow. The pressure fluctuations are imposed on inlet air flow and also on the fuel flow stream. Two different situations are considered: the combustion chamber once without and again with the inlet standing oblique shock wave. Design/methodology/approach The pressure fluctuations are imposed on inlet air flow and also on the fuel flow stream. Two different situations are considered: the combustion chamber once without and again with the inlet standing oblique shock wave. The unsteady turbulent reacting flow solver is developed to simulate the supersonic flow field in the combustion chamber with detail chemical kinetics, to predict the time-variation of the combustion efficiency due to the imposed pressure fluctuations. Findings The results show that the response of the reacting flow field depends on both the frequency of fluctuations and the existence of the inlet shock wave. In addition, the inlet standing shock wave has some attenuating role, but the reacting flow shows an amplifying role on imposed oscillations which is also augmented by imposing anti-phase fluctuations on both inlet and fuel flow streams. Originality/value This study is performed to analyze the instabilities in the supersonic combustion which has not been considered before in this manner.