Effect of recooling cycle on performance of hydrogen fueled scramjet

Hydrogen fueled scramjet is a candidate for use as the engine of the aerospace plane. Many methods to increase the fuel heat sink (cooling capacity) are widely carried out to meet the cooling requirement of scramjet engine. Especially, recooling cycle (RCC) has been newly proposed for actively cooled scramjet to increase fuel heat sink for cooling. With the working process of fuel cooled scramjet defined as a recuperated cycle, the difference between regenerative cooling (RC) and RCC in the characteristics of heat recovery, heat extraction and heat reinjection are compared first, and the scramjet performance of under RC and RCC mode is compared through off-design comparison analysis at different Mach numbers and equivalence ratios to evaluate the effect of recooling cycle on the performance of scramjet using a coupled heat transfer and flow model. It can be seen through analysis and comparison that recooling cycle can save the fuel mass flow rate for cooling, and make maximum use of the recovered heat. And the specific impulse of a scramjet can be greatly promoted as well.

► The fuel cooling of scramjet is a heat recuperation process.
► The working process of a scramjet with fuel cooling is a recuperative cycle.
► Scramjet performance with recooling cycle is superior to that with regenerative cooling.
► Recooling cycle can make maximum use of the heat recovered.