Numerical investigation on hydrogen combustion in a scramjet with 3D sidewall compression inlet

●We conduct a CFD method to analyze the fuel mixing and combustion in a scramjet.●We examine the flow phenomena and combustor performance.●The shock trains affect the combustion region located upstream of the injection.●The combustion patterns of each fuel jets in downstream region are nearly identical.●The inlet flow distortion has better characteristics of mixing and combustion augmentation.

Numerical simulations were employed to analyze the flowfield of a scramjet with three-dimensional (3D) sidewall compression inlet, and the effect of inlet distortion on the mixing and combustion process was examined. The numerical approach solved the compressible Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations supplemented with a finite rate chemical reacting model for the combustion of hydrogen fuel and air. Turbulence closure was achieved using Menter shear-stress transport (SST) model. To verify the accuracy of the simulation, the computed wall pressure was compared with the experimental data of the direct-connect combustor test. The metrics employed in the simulations included qualitative assessments related to flow structure as well as quantitative values of fuel mixing efficiency, combustion efficiency and static pressure distribution. Intake sidewalls were found to strongly affect the inlet flow structure, which became more complex in the nonuniform flowfield. The shock train system affected the combustion region located upstream of the injection and led to pairs of asymmetric separation bubbles. Nevertheless, the shock train system dissipated due to the reactions, the combustion patterns of each fuel jets in downstream region were nearly identical, and the degree of improvement of mixing and combustion efficiency near the downstream injectors was less than that near the upstream injectors.