Experimental investigation of combustion mechanisms of kerosene-fueled scramjet engines with double-cavity flameholders

A scramjet combustor with double cavitybased flameholders was experimentally studied in a directconnected test bed with the inflow conditions of M = 2.64, P _t = 1.84MPa, T _t = 1 300 K. Successful ignition and self-sustained combustion with room temperature kerosene was achieved using pilot hydrogen, and kerosene was vertically injected into the combustor through 4×ϕ0.5mm holes mounted on the wall. For different equivalence ratios and different injection schemes with both tandem cavities and parallel cavities, flow fields were obtained and compared using a high speed camera and a Schlieren system. Results revealed that the combustor inside the flow field was greatly influenced by the cavity installation scheme, cavities in tandem easily to form a single side flame distribution, and cavities in parallel are more likely to form a joint flame, forming a choked combustion mode. The supersonic combustion flame was a kind of diffusion flame and there were two kinds of combustion modes. In the unchoked combustion mode, both subsonic and supersonic combustion regions existed. While in the choked mode, the combustion region was fully subsonic with strong shock propagating upstream. Results also showed that there was a balance point between the boundary separation and shock enhanced combustion, depending on the intensity of heat release.