Numerical Study of Staged Fuel Injection for Supersonic Combustion

A parametric study of staged (multiple) perpendicular fuel injector configurations has been conducted using a computer code that solves the two-dimensional elliptic Navier-Stokes equations. The program computes the turbulent mixing and reaction of hydrogen fuel and air and allows the study of separated regions of the flow immediately preceding and following the injectors. The validity of the code is demonstrated in a cold flow helium injection study with a single injector. Results are presented that describe the flowfield near opposing staged injectors over a range of parameters. Parameters that are varied include injector size, fuel split, and distance between injectors. Comparisons of the configurations are made to assess their mixing and potential flameholding qualities.