ME 0201

ScramJet -------- Supersonic combustion ramjet

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1.Mr.Prashanth.S.S.S.M, 2.

Mr .P.Santosh Reddy

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Abstract
A scramjet is a variation of a ramjet with the key difference being that the flow in the combustor is supersonic. The scramjet is faster than any other supersonic plane and it is cheaper than a space shuttle as it uses the oxygen present in the air to burn. Top speed of a scramjet engine (without additional oxidizer input) is Mach 17.Like a ramjet, a scramjet essentially consists of a constricted tube through which inlet air is compressed by the high speed of the vehicle, a combustion chamber where fuel is combusted, and a nozzle through which the exhaust jet leaves at higher speed than the inlet air. There are few or no moving parts and no high speed turbine The front of the vehicle acts as the intake for the airflow, and the aft serves as the nozzle that accelerates the exhausted air. Air breathing requires no onboard oxygen. The X-43A scoops up oxygen as it flies through the atmosphere

Key words:
Mach number, oxidizer input, combustion chamber, ramjet, pollution .

Conclusion:
Scramjets will likely propel missiles first, since that application requires only cruise operation instead of net thrust production scramjet stage of a launch vehicle theoretically provides a specific impulse of 1000 to 4000 s permitting much cheaper access to space An aircraft using this type of jet engine could dramatically reduce the time it takes to travel from one place to another, potentially putting any place on earth within a 90 minute flightThe scramjet could help people to move from any place on earth within a 90 minute flight and with the increasing globalization the future of the aviation industry is definetly THE SCRAMJET. _____________________________________________________________________ 1. Mech II/IV College 2.Mech II/IV College prash.239@gmail.com santosh_325reddy@yahoo.co.in Patnam Rajender Reddy Memorial Engg. Patnam Rajender Reddy Memorial Engg.

Introduction:
A scramjet is a variation of a ramjet with the key difference being that the flow in the combustor is supersonic. At higher speeds it is necessary to combust supersonically to maximize the efficiency of the combustion process. . Like a ramjet, a scramjet essentially consists of a constricted tube through which inlet air is compressed by the high speed of the vehicle, a combustion chamber where fuel is combusted, and a nozzle through which the exhaust jet leaves at higher speed than the inlet air. Also like a ramjet, there are few or no moving parts. In particular there is no high speed turbine as in a turbofan or turbojet engine that is expensive to produce and can be a major point of failure.

A scramjet requires supersonic airflow through the engine, thus, similar to a ramjet, scramjets have a minimum functional speed. This speed is uncertain due to the low number of working scramjets, relative youth of the field, and the largely classified nature of research using complete scramjet engines. However, it is likely to be at least Mach 5 for a pure scramjet, with higher Mach numbers 7-9 more likely. Thus scramjets require acceleration to hypersonic speed via other means. A hybrid ramjet/scramjet would have a lower minimum functional Mach number, and some sources indicate the NASA X-43A research vehicle is a hybrid design. Air breathing engines should have significantly better specific impulse while within the atmosphere than rocket engines.NASA's experimental space craft set a new speed record for aircraft on November 16, 2004. In the unmanned test flight, the plane reached Mach 10 -- 10 times the speed of sound, or about 6,600 miles (10,600 kilometers) per hour. What sets the X-43A apart from other rocket-powered aircraft is that it is powered by a scramjet engine. Instead of using onboard oxygen to combust the hydrogen fuel, the scramjet scoops up oxygen as it travels through the atmosphere. By eliminating the need for onboard oxygen, cutting the weight of the spacecraft, the X-43A could lead to cheaper Earthto-orbit space travel.

History:
During and after World War II, tremendous amounts of time and effort were put into researching high-speed jet- and rocket-powered aircraft. The Bell X-1 attained supersonic flight in 1947, and by the early 1960s, rapid progress towards faster aircraft suggested that operational aircraft would be flying at "hypersonic" speeds within a few years.In the realm of civilian air transport, the primary goal has been reducing operating cost, rather than increasing flight speeds. Because supersonic flight, using conventional jet engines, requires significant amounts of fuel, airlines have favored subsonic jumbo jets rather than supersonic transports. The production supersonic airliners, Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144, operated with little profit for the French and Russian airlines but British Airways flew Concorde at a 60% profit

margin over its commercial life. Military combat aircraft design has focused on maneuverability, more recently combined with stealth. These features are thought to be incompatible with hypersonic aerodynamics because of the very high speeds and temperatures of hypersonic flight.In the United States, from 1986-1993, a reasonably serious attempt to develop a single stage to orbit reusable spaceplane using scramjet engines was made, but the Rockwell X-30 (NASP) program failed.Hypersonic flight concepts haven't gone away, however, and low-level investigations have continued over the past few decades. Presently, the US military and NASA have formulated a "National Hypersonics Strategy" to investigate a range of options for hypersonic flight. Other nations such as Australia, France, Russia, and India have also progressed in hypersonic propulsion research.

The Engine
A space shuttle needs 143,000 gallons of liquid oxygen, which weighs about 1,359,000 pounds. When empty, the shuttle itself only weighs 165,000 pounds, the external tank weighs 78,100 pounds, and the two solid rocket boosters weigh 185,000 pounds each. That's a total of 613,000 pounds. When you add fuel and oxidizer, the total weight of the vehicle jumps to 4.4 million pounds. NASA has determined that it can easily drop the weight of a vehicle at launch if they were to take away the liquid oxidizer, which would quickly drop the weight of the vehicle to about 3.1 million pounds. That's still a heavy vehicle, but it would mean a huge reduction in cost of launching a vehicle into orbit and the answer was the air breathing engine.

An air-breathing rocket engine, also called a rocket-based, combined cycle engine, is very similar to a jet engine. In a jet engine, air is sucked in by the compressor. The engine then compresses the air, combines it with a fuel, and burns the product, which expands and provides thrust. A jet engine can only be used for up to Mach 3 or 4 before its parts will begin to overheat. In a supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet, an air inlet draws in air. The air is slowed and compressed as the vehicle speeds through the atmosphere. Fuel is added to the supersonic airflow, where the two mix and burn. Fuels most likely to be used with the airbreathing rockets include liquid hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuel.Combustion occurs in the engine only at supersonic speeds because the air has to be flowing at a high rate to be compressed. Rather than using a rotating compressor, like a turbojet engine does, the forward velocity and aerodynamics compress the air into the engine. Hydrogen fuel is then injected

into the air stream, and the expanding hot gases from combustion accelerate the exhaust air to create tremendous thrust.

Taking Flight
A scramjet cant lift off like conventional spacecraft. The X-43A requires a booster rocket to get it up to a hypersonic speed, at which point it is released and sent flying on its own. This rocket boost is necessary for the scramjet engine to work. Heres a rundown of how the X-43A test flights work: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The X-43A is attached to a Pegasus booster rocket. The X-43A and booster rocket are carried up to about 20,000 feet (6,000 m) by a customized, B-52 aircraft. The B-52 releases the launch vehicle. The booster rocket accelerates to a speed of approximately Mach 5 and flies to an altitude of about 100,000 feet (30,500 m). The X-43A separates from the booster rocket and flies under its own power and preprogrammed control. The X-43A flies over the ocean for a few minutes before splashing down.

Image courtesy NASA

Applications:
Seeing its potential, organizations around the world are researching scramjet technology. Scramjets will likely propel missiles first, since that application requires only cruise operation instead of net thrust production.Space launch vehicles may or may not benefit from having a scramjet stage. A scramjet stage of a launch vehicle theoretically provides a specific impulse of 1000 to 4000 s whereas a rocket provides less than 600 s while in the atmosphere, potentially permitting much cheaper access to space. One issue is that scramjet engines are predicted to have exceptionally poor thrust to weight ratio- around 2. This compares very unfavorably with the 50-100 of a typical rocket engine. This is compensated for in scramjets

partly because the weight of the vehicle would be carried by aerodynamic lift rather than pure rocket power (giving reduced 'gravity losses'), but scramjets would take much longer to get to orbit due to lower thrust which greatly offsets the advantage. The takeoff weight of a scramjet vehicle is significantly reduced over that of a rocket, due to the lack of onboard oxidizer, but An aircraft using this type of jet engine could dramatically reduce the time it takes to increased by the structural requirements of the larger and heavier engines. travel from one place to another, potentially putting any place on Earth within a 90 minute flight.

Drawbacks:
1. Additional propulsion requirements: A scramjet cannot produce efficient thrust unless boosted to high speed, around Mach 5, depending on design, although, as mentioned earlier, it could act as a ramjet at low speeds. A horizontal take-off aircraft would need conventional turbofan or rocket engines to take off, sufficiently large to move a heavy craft. Also needed would be fuel for those engines, plus all engine associated mounting structure and control systems. Turbofan engines are heavy and cannot easily exceed about Mach 23, so another propulsion method would be needed to reach scramjet operating speed. 2. Testing difficulties Unlike jet or rocket propulsion systems facilities which can be tested on the ground, testing scramjet designs use extremely expensive hypersonic test chambers or expensive launch vehicles, both of which lead to high instrumentation costs. Launched test vehicles very typically end with destruction of the test item and instrumentation. 3. Lack of stealth There is no published way to make a scramjet powered vehicle (or any other hypersonic vehicle) stealthy- since the vehicle would be very hot due to its high speed within the atmosphere it should be easy to detect with infrared sensors. However, any aggressive act against a scramjet vehicle would be difficult because of its high speed.

4. Costs
The eventual cost of such a vehicle is the subject of intense debate since even the best estimates disagree whether a scramjet vehicle would be advantageous. It is likely that a scramjet vehicle would need to lift more load than a rocket of equal takeoff weight in order to be equally as cost efficient

Conclusion:
In the present world the most important and the most valuable thing is TIME .An average human being spends most of his time traveling. So there is always a need to develop a machine which will save time, money and create less pollution and the answer is SCRAMJET. The scramjet is faster than any other supersonic plane and it is cheaper than a space shuttle as it uses the oxygen present in the air to burn. The scramjet could help people to move from any place on earth within a 90 minute flight and with the increasing globalization the future of the aviation industry is definetly THE SCRAMJET.

References:
Paull, A.; Stalker, R.J., Mee, D.J. (1995). "Experiments on supersonic combustion ramjet propulsion in a shock tunnel". JFM 296: 156-183. Kors, D.L. Design considerations for combined air breathing-rocket propulsion systems., AIAA Paper No. 90-5216, 1990. Varvill, R., Bond, A. "A Comparison of Propulsion Concepts for SSTO Reuseable Launchers", JBIS, Vol 56, pp 108-117, 2003.