Conceptual Study of a Combined-Cycle Engine for an Aerospace Plane

Operating conditions and performances of a fixed-geometry combined-cycle engine for a single-stage-to-orbit aerospace plane were calculated with a simple simulation model. With the flow conditions calculated with the model, the cooling requirement of the engine and pitching moment of the plane were investigated. The engine was composed of an ejector-jet mode, a ramjet mode, a scramjet mode, and a rocket mode. The engine had a fixed geometry in its operation. Subsonic combustion was conducted with no second throat in the combustor under the ejector-jet mode and the ramjet mode. Propellants were liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The coolant flow rate became larger than the fuel flow rate. The excessive flow rate decreased the specific impulse above Mach 9 and restricted application of the airbreathing engine mode up to Mach 11. The pitching moment of the plane would be balanced even in the space in the configuration with the combined-cycle engine mounted on the windward surface.

[1]  D. Wie,et al.  Starting characteristics of supersonic inlets , 1996 .

[2]  Charles Beaudry,et al.  Integrated System Test of an Airbreathing Rocket , 2002 .

[3]  I. E. Beckwith,et al.  Local Heat Transfer and Recovery Temperatures on a Yawed Cylinder at a Mach Number of 4.15 and High Reynolds Numbers , 1961 .

[4]  Scott A. Berry,et al.  Hypersonic Boundary-Layer Trip Development for Hyper-X , 2000 .

[5]  William Escher,et al.  A user's primer for comparative assessments of all-rocket and rocket-based combined-cycle propulsion systems for advanced Earth-to-orbit space transport applications , 1995 .

[6]  G. Masuya,et al.  A study of air breathing rockets—Subsonic mode combustion , 1981 .

[7]  F. White.  Viscous Fluid Flow , 1974 .

[8]  Goro Masuya,et al.  Propellant feed system of a regeneratively cooled scramjet , 1991 .

[9]  C. R. Glatt,et al.  WAATS: A computer program for Weights Analysis of Advanced Transportation Systems , 1974 .

[10]  Goro Masuya,et al.  Experimental Investigation of an Ejector-Jet , 2003 .

[11]  Masatoshi Kodera,et al.  Effect of airframe geometry on thrust performance of aerospace plane , 2000 .

[12]  L. Lees.  Laminar Heat Transfer Over Blunt-Nosed Bodies at Hypersonic Flight Speeds , 1956 .

[13]  John G. Martin,et al.  Airbreathing hypersonic vehicle design and analysis methods , 1996 .

[14]  John R. Olds,et al.  SCCREAM: A Conceptual Rocket-Based Combined-Cycle Engine Performance Analysis Tool , 2001 .

[15]  A. L. Addy,et al.  Interaction Between Primary and Secondary Streams of Supersonic Ejector Systems and Their Performance Characteristics , 1964 .

[16]  Takeshi Kanda,et al.  PAYLOAD TO LOW EARTH ORBIT BY AEROSPACE PLANE WITH SCRAMJET ENGINE , 1997 .

[17]  F. R. Riddell,et al.  Theory of Stagnation Point Heat Transfer in Dissociated Air , 1958 .

[18]  Robert C. Hendricks,et al.  GASP: A computer code for calculating the thermodynamic and transport properties for ten fluids: Parahydrogen, helium, neon, methane, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, oxygen, fluorine, argon, and carbon dioxide. [enthalpy, entropy, thermal conductivity, and specific heat] , 1975 .

[19]  Garry Lyles,et al.  Integrated System Test of an Airbreathing Rocket (ISTAR) , 2001 .

[20]  M. Taylor,et al.  Correlation of local heat transfer coefficients for single phase turbulent flow of hydrogen in tubes with temperature ratios to 23 , 1968 .

[21]  Takeshi Kanda,et al.  DUAL-MODE OPERATION IN A SCRAMJET COMBUSTOR , 2001 .

[22]  William H. Heiser,et al.  Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion , 1994 .

[23]  David R. Olynick,et al.  Trajectory-Based Thermal Protection System Sizing for an X-33 Winged Vehicle Concept , 1998 .

[24]  K.Kato,et al.  Ramjet-mode Operation In A Scramjet Combustor , 2003 .

[25]  E. Eckert,et al.  Analysis of heat and mass transfer , 1971 .

[26]  Dennis H. Petley,et al.  A comparison of cooling methods for the airframe nozzle of a single-stage-to-orbit aircraft , 1991 .

[27]  J. Fabri,et al.  Supersonic Air Ejectors , 1958 .