Numerical analysis of convective heat transfer characteristics of supercritical hydrocarbon fuel in cooling panel with local flow blockage structure

• A numerical study is conducted for the convection transfer of fuel in cooling panel.
• The structural optimization is conducted to the blockage structure.
• Properties variation of fuel affects the flow field around the blockage structure.
• The blockage structure is suitably designed in the subcritical temperature region.

The convection heat transfer of hydrocarbon fuel at supercritical pressure has a great influence on the regenerative cooling technology of a scramjet engine. A three-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted for the convection transfer of hydrocarbon fuel in the cooling panel of a combustion chamber wall. And the flow field around the local flow blockage structure and the outlet flow rate distribution characteristics of fuel in the cooling channels were analyzed in detail. The results of analyses indicate that with the optimized local flow blockage structure, the outlet flow rate distribution of fuel among the cooling channels become more uniform, as the area of local flow dead zone decreases. However, as the fuel temperature increases, the dramatic variation of thermodynamic physical properties of fuel has a strong influence on the flow field around the local flow blockage structure. Especially, a local flow dead zone can be easily formed in the supercritical temperature region. Meanwhile, transverse pressure gradient around the throat region of blockage structure and additional loss, which is caused by turbulence fluctuation and energy exchange of fluid in the downstream area, affect the outlet flow rate distribution of fuel among the coolant passages seriously. It can therefore be concluded that the local flow blockage structure is more suitably designed in the subcritical temperature region by taking above-mentioned factors into consideration.

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