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Current NIA Graduate Student: Sarvjit Lota |
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Graduate Student:Sarvjit Lota, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Virginia
Research Project: Hyper-Velocity Combustion
University Advisor: Prof. James McDaniel, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia
NASA Mentor: Dr. Ajay Kumar, Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate
In the hyper-velocity regime for supersonic combustion ramjet propulsion systems, with fuel injection and mixing in the combustor, the combustion is primarily diffusion-limited, resulting in a very long combustor. One way to alleviate this is to pre-inject and mix the fuel ahead of the combustor and ignite the premixed fuel/air mixture with a shock wave at the combustor inlet. If the static temperature behind the shock is above the auto-ignition limit and the fuel is well premixed, the length required for combustion will be greatly reduced. A part of the challenge associated with this hyper-velocity combustion approach is to inject the fuel away from the hot boundary layer to avoid pre-ignition and to achieve good fuel/air mixing before the shock wave. This study involves a computational investigation of methods of fuel pre-injection and mixing and ignition of the mixture by a shock wave. In addition, the study will also investigate the stability of the shock wave causing the ignition and combustion in the combustor by forming a simplified model of the actual shock-induced combustion process over the range of parameters of interest.
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