AN INVESTIGATION OF A SCRAMJET CAVITY FLAMEHOLDER USING

STEREOSCOPIC PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY

Justin Kirik
University of Virginia

A particle image velocimetry (PIV) investigation of a scramjet combustor with a cavity

flameholder is described. The first phase of planned research will apply two-dimensional PIV to
a measurement plane within the cavity flameholder and parallel to the flowpath central axis. The
resulting data are expected to reveal the interaction of cavity flow structures with the shear layer
separating the cavity and main-duct flows. Additionally, recirculation regions within the cavity
will be quantified. A second phase of the investigation will provide a cross-sectional view of the
combustor velocity field by applying three-dimensional PIV to measurement planes
perpendicular to the flowpath central axis. These data will be compared with results from
different experimental diagnostics developed by partner institutions. Preparations to date have
included the design of new hardware to accommodate unique requirements of this research
campaign, and testing is expected to begin in the spring of this year.

Introduction within the engine supersonic, using a design

Over the course of more than a century
of development, aviation performance has
been defined by few measures more important
than speed. Rapid advances were made in the
decades after the success of the Wright
brothers in achieving practical powered flight:
progressively more powerful piston engines
propelled aircraft to speeds well over half that
of sound. The development of the gas turbine
raised the limits even higher, and by the early
1960s specialized aircraft flew in excess of
Mach 3. To travel much faster than this would
require an even different type of propulsion,
and out of this necessity the ramjet was born.
This eliminated the turbomachinery of the jet
engine, relying instead on the aircrafts speed
to do the work of compressing incoming air.
Maximum speeds were increased, but a new
limit was approached: beyond Mach 5, the
temperature of air after being slowed to the
subsonic speeds needed by a ramjet was so
great that the constituent molecules began to
dissociate. This renders the fundamental
thermodynamic model of the ramjet useless,
and the obvious answer was to keep airflow
known as a supersonic combustion ramjet
(scramjet). This has proven exceptionally
challenging, as combustion is inherently
suited to low-speed flows. Thus the challenge
was born of maintaining stable combustion in
an environment far removed from previous
engineering experience1-3.
The fundamental concept of scramjet
propulsion is simple: incoming air is
compressed and slowed to low supersonic
speeds by a series of shock waves, fuel is
injected and burned, and the resulting hot
gases are expanded through a nozzle to
produce thrust. Of these, combustion is the
most difficult of the three steps. Stable zones
for flameholding are created in low-speed
flows through the addition of obstructions
which promote turbulence and recirculation.
Such features cannot be used in scramjets for
two reasons: obstructions at the flow speeds
encountered in scramjets would lead to
unacceptable performance losses, and the
physical obstructions themselves would be
unlikely to survive the high temperatures
created by compression of hypersonic (Mach
numbers in excess of five) air. A variety of

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designs have been proposed to address the
conflicting requirements of stable
flameholding and minimal losses in stagnation
pressure, both key measures of performance.
One receiving significant research attention is
the cavity flameholder, a schematic of which
is shown in Fig. 1:
Fig. 1: Schematic of laboratory model
scramjet combustor section showing cavity
flameholder. Flow direction is from left to
right.
As can be seen in Fig. 1, this design
incorporates a trapezoidal recess into one wall
of the combustor, which serves to provide a
region of recirculation outside of the main
duct flow. Combustion in this cavity provides
a source of heat and radicals to pilot
combustion in the main duct, where most
heart release occurs. It is important to
distinguish the type of recirculation created by
a cavity flameholder from that of a device
such as a strut designed to create recirculation
in the main duct flow. Stagnation pressure
losses induced by a cavity are much smaller
since the cavity does not impede the core
flow, but interacts with it only to the extent of
a shear layer which separates the two4,5.
A key feature of most scramjet designs
using cavity flameholders is that they are
capable of dual-mode operation, signifying the
ability to sustain either subsonic or supersonic
combustion. At Mach numbers near five,
subsonic combustion is actually preferable,
unlike the case for higher Mach numbers.
While pure ramjets rely on cross-sectional
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area constrictions to transition flow from
supersonic to subsonic and then back again to
supersonic speeds, dual-mode scramjets
accomplish these same tasks through
aerothermodynamic and not physical
constraints. To decelerate the incoming flow
to subsonic speeds, a pressure rise is induced
by combustion which is sufficiently great to
create a series of shock waves upstream of the
combustor in a section of the engine termed
the isolator. After being slowed below Mach
1 by the shock waves, the flow is then driven
back to sonic velocity by the heat release of
combustion. Expansion in the nozzle then
further accelerates the flow to supersonic
speeds, allowing the engine to produce thrust1.
When an aircraft powered by a dual-
mode scramjet accelerates to speeds between
approximately Mach 5 and 10, the flow within
the engine naturally transitions to supersonic
speeds throughout the entire flowpath, and
pure scramjet operation is achieved. The
significant research attention to dual-mode
scramjets has resulted from this ability to
operate over a wide variety of Mach numbers.
A key NASA application for scramjet
technology is a new generation of reusable
launch vehicles for lower-cost and responsive
space access. By replacing a lower stage of a
launch vehicle with a scramjet-powered
aircraft, the significant mass penalty of
carrying oxidizer in an equivalent rocket-
powered stage is eliminated, reducing overall
vehicle mass and cost as a result. It is
important to note that a conventional gas
turbine or rocket engine is needed to
accelerate any scramjet-powered vehicle to the
speeds necessary for scramjet operation to
begin, and a conventional rocket-powered
upper stage would be needed to complete
orbital insertion for space-access applications.
Since it is believed that scramjets could
operate over a range of Mach numbers from
approximately 4 to greater than 20, the
majority of a space launch flight profile
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(which extends to Mach 25) would fall in the
range of applicability to scramjets.
Given the degree to which the
conditions of scramjet operation are removed
from the bulk of combustion research,
experimental characterization has been the
cornerstone of research in the field.
Conventional wind tunnels expose a model of
a complete flight vehicle to representative
free-stream conditions, and would be ideal for
scramjet testing if not for several key
challenges. At the high Mach numbers
characteristic of hypersonic flight, the
required temperatures and mass flow rates of
air are much greater than those in more
conventional lower-speed testing. To test
anything larger than a small-scale model of a
hypersonic aircraft would be prohibitive in
terms of the resources required to run such a
test facility. The solution to this problem
comes in the form of direct-connect testing,
which eliminates a whole-vehicle model in a
freejet environment and instead supplies air
only to the engine flowpath itself, significantly
reducing the amount of high-temperature air
required. Such a configuration presents
relatively few disadvantages relative to the
freejet environment, since the inlet and nozzle
sections which are neglected in direct-connect
testing are the most well-understood and thus
least in need of experimental investigation6.
Hypersonic ground test facilities are
additionally categorized according to test
duration and the means of heating test air.
While some facilities compress and heat air in
real-time to allow for unlimited test durations,
power requirements may be significantly
reduced by more slowly filling a reservoir
with high-pressure, high-temperature air, and
then allowing the reservoir to discharge into
the test section. The latter type are termed
blow-down facilities, and are much more
common than their continuous-flow
counterparts due to the aforementioned lower
power requirements. With respect to heating
air, combusting a fuel is often the most cost-
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effective means, but introduces combustion
by-products (vitiates) as a result. These
vitiates can have varying effects on the
resulting performance of the scramjet engine,
and to circumvent this a number of facilities
have been constructed which do not introduce
such impurities. The means of doing so vary,
but common options include electrical
resistance heaters and heat exchangers
coupled with combustion heaters.
Experimental Facility
The University of Virginia Supersonic
Combustion Facility (UVaSCF) is a direct-
connect continuous-flow unvitiated tunnel. An
electrical resistance heater allows stagnation
temperatures of up to 1200 K to be achieved.
A modular dual-mode scramjet flowpath has
been developed which allows for a variety of
optical diagnostics to be applied in a number
of flowpath configurations. Work to date has
concentrated on operation with a ramp fuel
injector, although one measurement campaign
has investigated a cavity flameholder7,8. A
computer rendering of the combustor section
is seen in Fig. 1. A photograph of the
combustor in operation is included in Fig. 2:
Fig. 2: Cavity flameholder in operation with
ethylene fuel.
This photograph clearly shows that
combustion is anchored in the cavity
flameholder and extends well into the main
duct. Ethylene is chosen as a fuel for cavity
flameholder experiments, as it is
representative of the products of a more
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complex hydrocarbon after being altered by
use as an airframe coolant. Such use of fuel as
coolant solves two problems: airframe
materials must be cooled to survive the high
temperatures of hypersonic flight, and large
hydrocarbons must be broken down in order to
produce molecules which will react
sufficiently fast in the scramjet combustor.
Complex hydrocarbons are selected as raw
fuels due to their relatively simple logistical
requirements for storage onboard a flight
vehicle. While hydrogen would be more
suitable from a purely chemical kinetic point
of view, the challenges of carrying such a fuel
would outweigh the benefits2.
Pressure data corresponding to test
conditions similar to those shown in Fig. 2 are
displayed in the flowing plot:
Fig. 3: Pressure data in combustor with cavity
flameholder. Pressure rise is induced by air
injection7.
These data show a pressure rise characteristic
of ramjet (subsonic) mode of operation,
although it is important to note that in this
particular case the pressure rise was induced
by additional injection of air into the
combustor and not by the heat release of
combustion7. The pressure drop near the
downstream limit of data (+10 in.)
corresponds to the end of the combustor
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section, which exhausted to ambient
atmospheric conditions.
Experimental Technique
Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is a
minimally-intrusive diagnostic which has been
applied to a wide variety of flows. Initially
confined to low-speed liquid flows upon its
practical introduction in the 1980s, subsequent
advances in computer processing technology
have expanded its applications to include the
high-speed reacting flows of the UVaSCF.
PIV relies on the introduction of small seed
particles to a flow, which should be selected
so as to faithfully follow the flow structures of
interest. These particles are illuminated by two
successive short-duration laser pulses
separated by a known time interval, and
photographs are taken at each laser pulse. The
result is a pair of images depicting a small
displacement of the seed particles, and
computer algorithms are then used to
determine velocity9. In the PIV configuration
used at the University of Virginia, the laser
light is formed into a sheet, producing a plane
of velocity data. When a single camera is
used, only the velocity components parallel to
the measurement plane may be computed, but
with a second camera viewing the
measurement plane at an angle oblique to that
of the first, the out-of-plane component may
be measured as well. Such a three-dimensional
technique is referred to as stereoscopic
particle image velocimetry (SPIV), and was
first applied to scramjet flows by researchers
at the University of Virginia10.
Experimental Plan: Phase 1
The first phase of my proposed
research will apply two-dimensional PIV to a
cavity flameholder in a measurement plane
perpendicular to the cavity floor. This will
yield a cross-sectional view of the cavity
velocity field and its interaction with the
bounding shear layer. Test conditions will
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address variations in fuel flow rates as well as
transition between ramjet and scramjet mode
operation. The resulting data will be useful not
only for fundamental physical understanding
of cavity flows, but for the validation of
numerical models as well, which form a
crucial part of the design cycle of scramjet-
powered vehicles. This work will be similar to
research I participated in at the Air Force
Research Laboratory (AFRL) in the summer
of 201211, which in turn built on the first-
reported PIV investigation of a cavity
flameholder5. The experimental configuration
will be similar to that recently used at the
UVaSCF to investigate operation with a ramp
fuel injector. In this campaign I assisted a
colleague in his investigation of the flow of
the hydrogen fuel plume and regions
downstream12. The experimental setup is
shown below:
Fig 4: Experimental configuration of 2D PIV
investigation of dual-mode scramjet with ramp
fuel injector. Laser light is simulated for
purposes of demonstration.
The laser beam, which has a circular cross-
section after exiting the laser, is directed into
the test cell by a mirror, where it is further
redirected through four lenses which form the
beam into a sheet with an elliptical cross-
section. Two cameras were used to expand the
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measurement plane, and were not configured
for SPIV operation. The system of lenses was
mounted on a traverse to allow for vertical
movement of the laser sheet. As can be seen in
Fig. 4, the UVaSCF is mounted vertically, a
relatively unusual configuration for facilities
of its type; however for consistency with
prevailing conventions all data and schematics
in this paper will be presented in accordance
with a horizontal flowpath. Seed particles
consisting of 100 nm diameter SiO2 spheres
were introduced to the test section through the
fuel plume, allowing regions with fuel or
combustion products to be measured. Mean
velocity data from one test of this campaign
are presented in the following figure:
Fig. 5: Mean velocity data representing
combusting flow downstream of hydrogen
fuel injection in scramjet flowpath. Location
of fuel injection is approximately x=-60 mm,
y=5 mm. Bulk flow direction is from left to
right12.
The fuel plume has an initial velocity higher
than that of the main duct flow, and turbulent
mixing gradually eliminates this disparity as
fuel convects downstream of the fuel injector.
While seeding of the main duct flow was
attempted, particle accumulation on test
section windows and insufficient signal from
particle reflections prevented useful data from
being acquired.
While the optical configuration for my
upcoming research will be nearly identical to
that shown in Fig. 4, the seeding configuration
will be changed significantly. Seed particles
will not be introduced through the fuel stream,
but rather through a port in the flowpath wall
upstream of the cavity flameholder. By
seeding the incoming boundary layer, seed
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particles will become entrained in the cavity
through mixing in the shear layer separating
the cavity and main duct flow. This will allow
measurement of the entire cavity volume as
well as much of the shear layer above it.
Measurements of the boundary layer upstream
and downstream of the cavity may also be
made. It is important to note a distinction in
terminology at this point: a boundary layer
occurs at the interface of a solid surface and a
fluid, while a shear layer separates two fluid
streams. A schematic of the experimental
configuration is given in Fig. 6:
Fig. 6: Schematic of experimental
configuration for first phase of research. Laser
sheet is directed into the cavity from above,
and measurement plane is viewed from the
side.
As shown in Figs. 4 and 6, the laser sheet
enters the combustor through a window in the
wall opposite the cavity flameholder,
terminating at a right angle to the cavity-side
wall. A camera views the illuminated plane
orthogonally through a window in the
combustor sidewall. The laser sheet may be
moved along the tunnel central axis (left-to-
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right in Fig. 6) to allow investigation of the
boundary layer upstream and downstream of
the cavity. The experimental configuration for
this first phase of research will be similar to
that used in my work at AFRL, though the test
plan will be significantly different. While the
AFRL work focused on the effects of flow
distortion11, work at the University of Virginia
will concentrate on the effects of varying
fueling rates and locations on combustor
performance. Key flowfield features expected
to be observed in this measurement campaign
include recirculation regions occupying most
of the cross-sectional plane. These
recirculation regions provide much greater
residence time for fuel-air mixture than that
encountered in the main duct flow, allowing
stable combustion to be maintained.
Additionally, the shear layer and its possibly
unsteady interaction with the cavity flow will
be quantified.
Experimental Plan: Phase 2
The second phase of research will
focus more generally on the performance of
the combustor as a whole. SPIV will be
applied in measurement planes perpendicular
to the tunnel central axis, producing a cross-
sectional view of the velocity field within the
duct. Data will be taken at approximately four
measurement planes, which will also be
examined with other experimental diagnostics
measuring temperature and chemical species
concentration by researchers at partner
institutions. Such collaborative research is
organized under the National Center for
Hypersonic Combined Cycle Propulsion
(NCHCCP), which includes eight member
universities in addition to industry and
government partners. I assisted colleagues in
two previous SPIV investigations of a
scramjet flowpath incorporating a ramp fuel
injector, and my research will extend this to a
cavity-based combustor. By providing a more
global view of combustor operation than the
first phase, this research will allow for the
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determination of the effects of a number of
variables on overall performance. In the past
year a colleague and I applied SPIV to several
planes within a scramjet flowpath configured
with a ramp fuel injector. Example data
collected at the exit plane of the flowpath are
presented in Fig. 7:
Fig. 7: SPIV mean velocity data acquired at
the exit of a scramjet flowpath. Flow direction
is out of page12.
Flow asymmetry is noticeable in these data,
which is not uncommon in experimental
facilities of this type. This asymmetry has
been documented with other experimental
techniques10, and with proper quantification
does not detract from its value in validation of
numerical models. Data were only acquired in
an irregularly-shaped region due to the fact
that as in the previously-presented 2D PIV
data, only the fuel stream was seeded, thus
limiting data collection to regions of
combustion byproducts. My planned SPIV
work will circumvent this limitation by
seeding the entire duct flow through seed
injection in the facility plenum. Quantities
measured will include root-mean-square
(RMS) velocity in addition to mean velocity,
allowing quantification of the turbulence level
within the scramjet flowpath. The continuous-
flow capability of the UVaSCF enables the
acquisition of large data sets, and it is
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anticipated that approximately 1000-2000
image pairs will be acquired at each test
condition to ensure adequate convergence of
measurements. While mean velocity can
generally be determined with approximately
100 PIV image pairs, RMS velocity requires
approximately an order-of-magnitude more to
achieve similar convergence. It is important to
note that not every PIV image pair produces a
velocity vector at a particular location, and it
is the number of vectors, not image pairs, that
determines sample size.
Experimental Plan: Current Progress
The first phase of my research is
scheduled to begin testing in the late spring of
this year and extend into the summer.
Preparations have been underway for the past
several months, during which time I have also
assisted a colleague in the previously-
discussed PIV experiments. The bulk of
preparatory work has involved facility
modifications to enable boundary-layer
seeding as depicted schematically in Fig. 6.
An angled port will be added to an adapter
plate between the isolator and combustor
sections of the modular scramjet flowpath
tested in the UVaSCF. A computer rendering
of this part is included in the following figure:
Fig. 8: Computer rendering of adapter plate
incorporating seed particle injection port. Exit
of seed port on tunnel flowpath surface is
marked with an arrow.
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Apart from the addition of a seed injection
port, this adapter plate is otherwise identical to
a unit currently installed on the UVaSCF. No
tunnel dimensions are changed as a result of
this modification, thus enabling direct
comparison between the ramp and cavity
flameholder configurations. In order to deliver
seed particles to the boundary layer as
described, they will first be levitated using
unheated tunnel air in a fluidized bed
seeder, depicted schematically in Fig. 9:
Fig. 9: Schematic of fluidized bed seeder to be
used in first phase of measurements.
Air is delivered through the porous plug at the
bottom of the fluidizing chamber, which then
levitates the seed particles and gradually
drives them to the shearing nozzle at the top of
the chamber. This nozzle reduces particle
agglomeration before exiting the seeder. Metal
tubing then directs the seed-air mixture to the
injection location. A similar seeder will be
used for full-duct seeding in the second phase
of measurements, although this design does
not use a shearing nozzle. This second phase
is scheduled to begin in the fall of this year
and conclude in the spring of 2014.
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Summary
Preparations are underway to apply
particle image velocimetry measurements to
the cavity flameholder of a laboratory-model
scramjet combustor. Such measurements will
provide cross-sectional views of the cavity
velocity field, allowing the influence of
factors such as varying fueling rates and
locations to be determined. This work will be
followed by a second phase of research which
will take stereoscopic particle image
velocimetry measurements across the cross-
section of the entire combustor, providing a
more global view of combustor performance.
By combining these data with measurements
from other experimental techniques, a
comprehensive database will be built,
enhancing both fundamental physical
understanding of cavity flows as well as
validation of numerical models.
Acknowledgement
A portion of personnel support was
sponsored by the National Center for
Hypersonic Combined Cycle Propulsion grant
FA 9550-09-1-0611. The technical monitors
on the grant are Chiping Li (AFOSR) and
Aaron Auslender and Rick Gaffney (NASA).
Additional support was provided by the
Department of Defense (DoD) through the
National Defense Science & Engineering
Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) Program. The
author would like to acknowledge advisor
Professor Christopher Goyne of the University
of Virginia, as well as Dr. Campbell Carter of
the Air Force Research Laboratory for helpful
discussions regarding the seeding method for
upcoming work.
References
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