Ignition and Combustion of Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels in Supersonic Flow

Abstract : An experimental study was carried out to investigate the combustion of a liquid hydrocarbon (hexane) injected into a supersonic stream. Injection modes included wall and central injection configurations. Extremely rapid and intense heat release phenomena were obtained. It was concluded that this mode of combustion could be made to compete with that of pure gas phase combustion for many technological applications. A preliminary theoretical model of the combustion mechanism was constructed which accounts for many of the observed phenomena, and which explains the very rapid combustion characteristics.