Effect of mainstream oxygen concentration on supersonic film cooling and friction reduction performance using hydrocarbon fuel

One of the effective methods to simultaneously achieve the thermal protection and friction reduction requirement of a scramjet engine is the usage of fuel film cooling. As the combustion process inside the combustor proceeds, the oxygen concentration in the burnt gas gradually decreases and will influence the thermal and friction characteristics of the hydrocarbon film. Therefore, the effects of oxygen concentration in the mainstream on the hydrocarbon film are evaluated by numerical simulations based on RANS framework. The results indicate that the cooling performance of the hydrocarbon film is not sensitive to the oxygen concentration, although the fuel film burns more intense as the oxygen concentration increases. While the friction reduction performance is sensitive to the oxygen concentration. Specifically, about 10% friction reduction can be obtained for 10% oxygen in the mainstream compared to that of inert cases, and the wall friction can be further reduced by 30% for 20% oxygen. Further analysis reveals that the mechanism of the above two drag reductions is different. For weak boundary layer combustion, the decrease of the molecular viscosity contributes to the reduction of friction. While for significant boundary layer combustion, a lower near-wall velocity gradient is the main reason.