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CFD Methods in High-Speed Airbreathing Missile Propulsion Design

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Innovations in Sustainable Energy and Cleaner Environment

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Abstract

Application of CFD tools in the design and analysis of high-speed airbreathing systems is described. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved along with SST-k-ω turbulence model. Lagrangian particle tracking method for kerosene droplet and single-step chemical reaction based on fast chemistry is used to model kerosene–air reaction. The computational tool is extensively validated against reliable experimental data before applying to design exercise. Better insight obtained from numerical simulations about the mixing and combustion process inside the combustor has enabled the placement of fuel injection struts and the injectors to obtain optimized combustor performance and benign thermal environments for a flight-sized hydrocarbon-fuelled scramjet combustor. Computed wall pressure matches nicely with experimental data for both non-reacting and reacting flows. Computed convective heat flux obtained through well-resolved thermal boundary layer simulations is used in the thermo-structural analysis of the scramjet combustor. End-to-end simulations integrating both external (non-reacting) and internal (reacting) flow are carried out of a complete hypersonic airbreathing vehicle to obtain complete aerodynamics and propulsion parameters of the vehicle for mission design. The evaluated installed air intake performance in terms of pressure recovery and mass capture ratio matches very well with experimental data. For higher angles of attack, windward and leeward side intakes show different performances, and leeward side intake experiences subcritical operation faster. The interaction between forebody boundary layer and intake shock system causes significant spillage. The starting and unstarting characteristics of a hypersonic intake are evaluated through unsteady RANS simulations. Both started flow and unstarted flow with large pressure oscillation are captured for different Mach numbers. The use of CFD tools has reduced the dependence of experimental testing in the design of high-speed airbreathing Propulsion Systems.

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Acknowledgements

The works presented in the article are carried out by the members of Computational Combustion Dynamics (CCD) Division of Directorate of Computational Dynamics (DOCD) of DRDL. The author greatly acknowledges the contributions of Dr. P. Manna, Sri Soumyajit Saha, Ms. Souraseni Basu, Sri Malsur Dharvath and Sri Anand Bhandarkar in preparing the articles. Thanks are due to the scientists of DRDL for providing the geometrical configurations and experimental data for the simulation and comparisons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Research and Development Laboratory, P.O. Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad, 58, India

    Debasis Chakraborty

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  1. Debasis Chakraborty
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Correspondence to Debasis Chakraborty .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Ashwani K. Gupta

  2. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ashoke De

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Suresh K. Aggarwal

  4. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Abhijit Kushari

  5. Analytic & Computational Research, Inc. (ACRi), The CFD Innovators, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Akshai Runchal

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Chakraborty, D. (2020). CFD Methods in High-Speed Airbreathing Missile Propulsion Design. In: Gupta, A., De, A., Aggarwal, S., Kushari, A., Runchal, A. (eds) Innovations in Sustainable Energy and Cleaner Environment. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9012-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9012-8_12

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