Graduation Semester and Year

2014

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Donald R Wilson

Abstract

Hypersonic airbreathing engines provide many potential opportunities for future aerospace applications and immense efforts have been taken in gaining knowledge in them for the past decades .The physical phenomenon occurring in the hypersonic flow regime makes the design and performance prediction of a scramjet engine difficult. Though the cutting edge simulation tool development fights its way towards accurate prediction of the environment, the time consumed by the entire process in designing and analyzing a scramjet engine and its component, can be excessive. A multi-fidelity approach for designing a scramjet with a cruising Mach number of 6 is detailed in this research, where higher order simulations are applied according to the physics involved in the component. Two state of the art simulation tools have been used to take the aerodynamic and propulsion disciplines into account for realistic prediction of the individual components as well as the entire scramjet. The specific goal of this research is create a virtual environment to design and analyze a hypersonic 2D planar inlet and isolator to check its operability for a dual mode scramjet engine which starts at a Mach number of 3.5 where it operates as a ramjet, and accelerate to Mach 6 to be operated as a scramjet engine. The intercomponent interaction between the compression components with the rest of the engine is studied by varying the fidelity of the numerical simulation according to the complexity of the situation. The length of the shock train has been predicted and compared using empirical as well as CFD methods. Efforts have been taken to track the transition Mach number where it switches completely from ramjet engine to scramjet engine. A complete scramjet assembly code was built using Numerical Propulsion Simulation System and the performance of the engine was tested for various scenarios. Different numerical techniques were opted for varying the fidelity of the analysis with the highest fidelity consisting of 2D RANS CFD simulation. The interaction between the NPSS elements with the CFD solver is governed by the top level assembly solver of NPSS. The results from this research should add up to provide an efficient way for estimating the design and off-design operating modes of a dual mode scramjet engine.

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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