Doubled Thrust by Boundary Layer Control in Scramjet Engines in Mach 4 and 6

Boundary layer ingestion in airframe-integrated scramjet engines causes engine stall (“engine un start” hereafter) and restricts engine performance. To improve the unstart characteristics in engines, boundary layer bleed and a two-staged injection of fuel were examined in Mach 4 and Mach 6 engine tests. A boundary layer bleed system consisting of a porous plate, an air coolers, a metering orifice and an ON/OFF valve, was designed for each of the engines. First, a method to determine bleed rate requirements was developed. Porous plates were designed to suck air out of the Mach 4 engine at a rate of 200 g/s and out of the Mach 6 engine at a rate of 30 g/s. Air coolers were then optimized based on the bleed airflow rates. The exhaust air temperature could be cooled below 600 K in the porous plates and the compact air coolers. The Mach 4 engine tests showed that a small bleed rate of 3% doubled the engine operating range and thrust. With the assistance of two-staged fuel injection of H2, the engine operating range was extended to Ф0.95 and the maximum thrust was tripled to 2560 N. The Mach 6 tests showed that a bleed of 30 g/s (0.6% of captured air in the engine) extended the start limit from Ф0.48 to Ф1 to deliver a maximum thrust of 2460 N.