Performance analysis of a mach 12 scramjet at off-design conditions

A study was conducted for performance analysis of a mach 12 scramjet being developed at the Center for Hypersonics, University of Queensland, Australia. A three-dimensional (3-D) scramjet, with a rectangular-to-elliptical shape transition (REST) inlet and an elliptical combustor was developed with a design point of Mach 12 for the investigations. The inlet injection and an injector scheme, which were designed to generate combustion in the boundary layer, were incorporated into this flowpath. Ground testing of this engine, with hydrogen fuel at off-design conditions simulating flight at Mach 8.7 showed robust combustion and good pressure rise from the two injection schemes. The inlet compression was determined through numerical simulation using the NASA Langley code, VULCAN for the current performance analysis. The goal of the performance analysis was to estimate the combustion efficiency curve for the different fueling configurations tested in the experiments