ORCID
0009-0006-7898-5470
Keywords
Fuel Hypersonic Air-breathing JISCF
Abstract
Hypersonic air-breathing propulsion systems face unique challenges related to fuel injection due to the supersonic flow in the combustor. For example, residence times within supersonic combustors are often orders of magnitude shorter than the timescales required for quality delivery of fuel. Additionally, because of the high incoming momentum of the free stream, fuel penetration is difficult to achieve without intrusive fueling structures. Intrusive fueling structures, however, are not desired as they induce high efficiency losses and require advanced cooling systems or thermal protection solutions. Therefore, an understanding of the trajectory of fuel injected from the sidewall of a combustor is desired to design an optimal combustor configuration. This injection scheme is typically referred to as normal or transverse fuel injection and is a common configuration when conducting research related to jets into supersonic cross flow (JISCF) research. The purpose of this research is to identify common trends in liquid JISCF through a range of Mach numbers and provide a physical explanation for the differences observed. Previous research has conducted similar experiments; however, few experiments have been conducted with fuel in facilities that are able to produce flight relevant enthalpies. In this research, Liquid jets were injected normally into free streams ranging from Mach 4.0 to 4.5 with a range of temperatures and momentum flux ratios. Factors that heavily influence the trajectory of the jet are identified and an empirical correlation is formed to compare to previous works. Additionally, a fundamental physics-based analysis is performed to highlight the relationship between the trajectory and the incoming flow.
Completion Date
2025
Semester
Fall
Committee Chair
Ahmed, Kareem
Degree
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering (M.S.A.E.)
College
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Department
MAE
Format
Identifier
DP0029787
Document Type
Thesis
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Sprunger, Justin, "Fuel Injection for Hypersonic Air-breathing Propulsion Systems" (2025). Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024. 501.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2024/501