Thermodynamic analysis on optimum performance of scramjet engine at high Mach numbers

Duo Zhang, Shengbo Yang, Silong Zhang, Jiang Qin and Wen Bao

Energy, 2015, vol. 90, issue P1, 1046-1054

Abstract: In order to predict the maximum performance of scramjet engine at flight conditions with high freestream Mach numbers, a thermodynamic model of Brayton cycle was utilized to analyze the effects of inlet pressure ratio, fuel equivalence ratio and the upper limit of gas temperature to the specific thrust and the fuel impulse of the scramjet considering the characteristics of non-isentropic compression in the inlet. The results show that both the inlet efficiency and the temperature limit in the combustor have remarkable effects on the overall engine performances. Different with the ideal Brayton cycles assuming isentropic compression without upper limit of gas temperature, both the maximum specific thrust and the maximum fuel impulse of a scramjet present non-monotonic trends against the fuel equivalence ratio in this study. Considering the empirical design efficiencies of inlet, there is a wide range of fuel equivalence ratios in which the fuel impulses remain at high values. Moreover, the maximum specific thrust can also be achieved with a fuel equivalence ratio near this range. Therefore, it is possible to achieve an overall high performance in a scramjet at high Mach numbers.

Keywords: Scramjet; Brayton cycle; Performance; Specific thrust; Impulse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544215010877
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:90:y:2015:i:p1:p:1046-1054

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.08.017

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().