Numerical simulation on the combustion characteristics of scramjet at high Mach number

To investigate the problem of ethylene jet mixing and combustion in the scramjet at high Mach number (Ma = 8), numerical simulations were carried out for different equivalent ratios at cold and combustion conditions, in which three-dimensional steady compressible RANS and k-ω SST turbulence model were adopted. It demonstrates that as the equivalence ratio increases from 0.42 to 1.08, the combustion becomes more intensified, and the higher backpressure pushes flame to propagate upstream. The supersonic combustion region in the combustor decreases from 92% to 85% with the increase of equivalence ratio from 0.42 to 1.08, resulting in the transition of the combustor from scram-mode to dual-mode. Both mixing and combustion efficiencies decrease by 35% and 16% respectively when the equivalence ratio increases from 0.42 to 1.08, indicating that the high equivalence ratio is unfavorable to the mixing and combustion processes. Combustion mode analysis reveals that the flame in the cavity under the high Mach number is dominated by non-premixed flames, i.e., more than 95% behaves as non-premixed mode, and the heat release is also mainly contributed by non-premixed flame. Increasing the equivalence ratio is beneficial to the thrust performance. Although the viscous force hardly changes with equivalence ratio, the percentage of pressure force used to balance the viscous force increases gradually, which limits the engine performance.