Hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet combustor investigation

An experimental program is being conducted for developing the technology required by a hydrocarbon-fueled engine capable of operating as a scramjet in the Mach 5.6-7.0 range. A series of tests have been run to define scramjet combustor design criteria applicable to a scramjet configuration involving a pair of modular, axisymmetric combustors mounted on the lower surface of a supersonic/hypersonic missile. The airbreathing pilot combustor incorporates an external mainstream fuel injector which serves as the primary fuel injection stage for the supersonic combustor; it has been demonstrated that the pilot promotes the efficient combustion of either gaseous ethylene or preheated JP-5, when they are injected into the mainstream flow as a primary fuel.