Effects of incident shock wave on mixing and flame holding of hydrogen in supersonic air flow

• 3D simulation of transversal injection of hydrogen in supersonic air flow.
• Using SST k-ω to study the effect of incident shock on the flow field structure.
• Impinging the shock downstream of the injector causes increasing of the mixing rate.
• Rate of the fuel-air mixing is higher in the slot edge's direction.
• OH distribution confirms the flame holding in the case of higher mixing rate.

The effects of incident shock wave on mixing and flame holding of hydrogen in supersonic airflow have been studied numerically. The considered flow field was including of a sonic transverse hydrogen jet injected in a supersonic air stream. Under-expanded hydrogen jet was injected from a slot injector. Flow structure and fuel/air mixing mechanism were investigated numerically. Three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations were solved along with SST k-ω turbulence model using OpenFOAM CFD toolbox. Impact of intersection point of incident shock and fuel jet on the flame stability was studied. According to the results, without oblique shock, mixing occurs at a low rate. When the intersection of incident shock and the lower surface is at upstream of the injection slot; no significant change occurs in the structure of the flow field at downstream. However when the intersection moves toward downstream of injection slot; dimensions of the recirculation zone and hydrogen-air mixing rate increase simultaneously. Consequently, an enhanced mixing zone occurs downstream of the injection slot which leads to flame-holding.