German hypersonic technology programme. Airbreathing propulsion activities

During the past years extensive work on an airbreathing propulsion system for a hypersonic application has been performed within the German Hypersonic Technology Programme. The programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT). Recent presentations have already outlined some specific features of the reference concept SAeNGER. This paper presents the status and results of airbreathing propulsion technology development. The reference concept represents a very challenging space transport system. This fully reusable system, with a highly integrated airbreathing propulsion system, requires close cooperation between all disciplines involved. The organization of work is briefly discussed, especially concurrent engineering, which is applied to meet this challenge. Features of the significant airframe/propulsion system integration are presented. Finally, ram combustor and nozzle investigations are discussed. Integrated work, consisting of proven analytical tools and experimental investigations, is carried out to meet all the challenges in designing a light-weight, highly loaded, highly efficient component. This is done within the framework of a carefully devised step-by-step investigation. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman