Ashish Alex Sam

The focus of this study is to design a combustion system able to sustain hypersonic flight at Mach 8. A Dual-Mode Free-Jet combustion chamber design, first tested in 2010 by NASA, is being adapted to run on hydrogen fuel instead of ethylene while addressing the excessive thermal heat load. This study is part of the FAME (Flight at Mach Eight) project, with the primary objective to design and analyse the engine configuration for a hypersonic commercial aircraft. This CFD analysis and validation study, the first to replicate this combustion chamber design, provides detailed instructions on the combustion system design. The analysis from this study can be used for future research to successfully reach a sustainable design and operation of a Dual-Mode Free-Jet combustion chamber. The 53% size reduction in the combustion system represents significant progress which encourages future research regarding in the design of combustion systems for hypersonic propulsion systems.

This paper aims to contribute to developing a potential combined cycle air-breathing engine integrated into an aircraft design, capable of performing flight profiles on a commercial scale. This study specifically focuses on the single expansion ramp nozzle (SERN) and aircraft-engine integration with an emphasis on the combined cycle engine integration into the conceptual aircraft design. A parametric study using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have been employed to analyze the sensitivity of the SERN’s performance parameters with changing geometry and operating conditions. The SERN adapted to the different operating conditions and was able to retain its performance throughout the altitude simulated. The expansion ramp shape, angle, exit area, and cowl shape influenced the thrust substantially. The internal nozzle expansion and expansion ramp had a significant effect on the lift and moment performance. An optimized SERN was assembled into a scramjet and was subject to various nozzle inflow conditions, to which combustion flow from twin strut injectors produced the best thrust performance. Side fence studies observed longer and diverging side fences to produce extra thrust compared to small and straight fences.

Cryogenic turboexpanders for nitrogen refrigeration and liquefaction cycles operating near liquefaction conditions are vulnerable to droplet formation. The turboexpander must be devoid of any traces of droplets, as this may cause damage to the blades and also result in performance deterioration. Hence, a multiphase flow analysis was conducted, based on the droplet condensation model in Ansys CFX^®, to identify any possible droplet sites and its nature of propagation. A single-phase steady state simulation of the turboexpander was performed initially to identify the regions susceptible to droplet formation, followed by a multiphase analysis to study the flow field behavior and to characterize the droplet nucleation and growth. It has been observed that the low-pressure regions like vortices and wakes are susceptible to sub-cooling and thereby in droplet formation. Also, major geometrical parameters that affect the droplet nucleation have also been identified.

The conceptual aircraft design and its integration with a combined cycle engine for hypersonic cruise at Mach 8 is documented in this paper. The paper describes the process taken to develop a hypersonic aircraft from a conceptual approach. The discussion also includes the design and CFD analysis of the integrated combined cycle engine. A final conceptual hypersonic transport aircraft with an integrated combined cycle engine was achieved through this study. According to the analysis carried out, the aircraft is able to take-off and land at the airports it is intended to be used and will be able to generate enough thrust to sustain hypersonic cruise at an altitude of 30 km.

Turboexpanders in cryogenic refrigeration and liquefaction cycles, which is of radial inflow configuration, constitute stationary and rotating components like nozzle, a rotating wheel and a diffuser. The relative motion between the stationary and rotating components and the interactions of secondary flows and vortices at different stages make the turboexpander flow unsteady. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of this flow is essential to identify the scope for improvement in efficiency. The trailing edge vortex formed due to the mixing of the pressure and suction side streams is an important phenomenon to analyse, as this leads to efficiency degradation of the machine. Additionally, there are mechanical vibrations and dynamic loading associated with. This flow non-uniformity at the exit should be suppressed as this may affect the pressure recovery process in the diffuser and thereby the turboexpander's performance. The strength of this vortex depends upon the geometrical parameters like trailing edge shape, thickness etc. In this paper, transient CFD analyses of a cryogenic turboexpander designed for helium refrigeration and liquefaction cycles using Ansys CFX^® were performed to investigate the effect of trailing edge thickness on the turboexpander performance and the performance characteristics and the flow patterns were compared to understand the flow characteristics in each case.