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Performance modelling and numerical simulation validation of hypersonic inlet with fuel pre-injection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2025

F.T. Luo ,
H.T. Li ,
Z.M. Qu ,
W.J. Chen Open the ORCID record for W.J. Chen [Opens in a new window]  and
Y.S. Long
F.T. Luo
Affiliation:
School of Aerospace Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
H.T. Li
Affiliation:
School of Aerospace Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
Z.M. Qu
Affiliation:
School of Aerospace Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
W.J. Chen*
Affiliation:
School of Aerospace Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
Y.S. Long
Affiliation:
School of Aerospace Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P.R. China
*
Corresponding author: W.J. Chen; Email: chenwenjuan@hust.edu.cn
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Abstract

Fuel pre-injection in the inlet of a hypersonic engine has been proven to be advantageous in the range of the very high flight Mach numbers. In this paper, a rapid inlet performance analysis model with fuel pre-injection is proposed. The modelling process is divided into two stages. Firstly, the baseline inlet model is provided based on the working principle of the inlet. Then, the newly proposed fuel injection and heat release model is added to the baseline inlet model. Among them, the fuel injection and heat release model is equivalent to increasing the compression angle in the cold state. And in the hot state the effect of the fuel heat release will be considered in addition to the effect of cold state. The research results show as the equivalence ratio increases, the equivalent compression angle also increases, but the two are not in a linear relationship. Based on this pattern of effect, fuel injection can be used to regulate the shock wave position and accurately control the flow rate of the inlet. In addition, by comparing to numerical simulation, it is found that the analysis model can almost reasonably predict the performance of the pre-injection inlet. However, the calculation of drag coefficient has some deviation compared to numerical simulation, which is probably due to the lack of consideration of friction drag and the interaction between the shock wave and boundary layer in the model analysis. Overall, the modelling method proposed in this paper can reflect the effect of fuel injection on inlet performance, which can be used to optimise injection strategy in the future.

Keywords

inlet pre-injectionmodel analysisinjection modelnumerical simulationperformance parameter

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 129 , Issue 1338 , August 2025 , pp. 2283 - 2306
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Aeronautical Society

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