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Scramjet test flow reconstruction for a large-scale expansion tube, Part 1: quasi-one-dimensional modelling

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Abstract

Large-scale free-piston driven expansion tubes have uniquely high total pressure capabilities which make them an important resource for development of access-to-space scramjet engine technology. However, many aspects of their operation are complex, and their test flows are fundamentally unsteady and difficult to measure. While computational fluid dynamics methods provide an important tool for quantifying these flows, these calculations become very expensive with increasing facility size and therefore have to be carefully constructed to ensure sufficient accuracy is achieved within feasible computational times. This study examines modelling strategies for a Mach 10 scramjet test condition developed for The University of Queensland’s X3 facility. The present paper outlines the challenges associated with test flow reconstruction, describes the experimental set-up for the X3 experiments, and then details the development of an experimentally tuned quasi-one-dimensional CFD model of the full facility. The 1-D model, which accurately captures longitudinal wave processes, is used to calculate the transient flow history in the shock tube. This becomes the inflow to a higher-fidelity 2-D axisymmetric simulation of the downstream facility, detailed in the Part 2 companion paper, leading to a validated, fully defined nozzle exit test flow.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Frans De Beurs, Neil Duncan, and the EAIT Faculty Workshop, for technical assistance with X3; The Australian Research Council for support and funding; The Queensland Smart State Research Facilities Fund 2005 for support and funding; The Australian Space Research Program and UQ for their funding in support of the “Scramjet-based Access-to-Space Systems” (SCRAMSPACE) project; The UQ High Performance Computing (HPC) Support Group for supercomputing support; this work was supported by computational resources provided by the Australian Government through Raijin and Magnus under the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme.

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  1. The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    D. E. Gildfind, P. A. Jacobs, R. G. Morgan, W. Y. K. Chan & R. J. Gollan

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  1. D. E. Gildfind
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  2. P. A. Jacobs
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  3. R. G. Morgan
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Correspondence to D. E. Gildfind.

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Communicated by Z. Jiang and A. Higgins.

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Gildfind, D.E., Jacobs, P.A., Morgan, R.G. et al. Scramjet test flow reconstruction for a large-scale expansion tube, Part 1: quasi-one-dimensional modelling. Shock Waves 28, 877–897 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-017-0785-x

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