Cold flow drag measurement and numerical performance prediction of a miniature ramjet at Mach 4

Abstract

Experimentation was carried out in a supersonic wind tunnel to investigate the drag force on a miniature ramjet when subjected to Mach 4 flow. CFDRC-FASTRAN, a numerical flow solver developed for the analysis of high-speed flows was used to model the performance of the miniature ramjet. To reduce computational time, a 2D axisymmetric model of the ramjet was developed to investigate the shock angles over the intake and the results were compared with the experiment. A 3D axisymmetric flow model was developed to investigate the fuel mixing which was injected into the ramjet from the nose cone and from the struts, which held the centerbody in place. Finally a 2D model was developed to investigate the combustion of the propane fuel, which was injected from the struts. For all of the simulations a two-equation, k , turbulence model was used. Further investigation is needed at supersonic freestream conditions in the simulation of the combustion process.