Master's Thesis Proposal

Jean Pecquet

(Advisor: Prof. Menon)

"Large Eddy Simulation of Solid-Fuel Ramjet Combustion"

Tuesday, December 3

3:00 p.m.

MK 317

Abstract
 Solid-fuel ramjets (SFRJs) represent a high-performance and cost-effective alternative to conventional liquid-fueled ramjets in a variety of applications. However, widespread adoption is hindered by the relative complexity of the solid fuel combustion process, which requires significant characterization and modeling efforts. Until recently, numerical modeling of SFRJ combustors has largely consisted in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations, which do not resolve the dynamics of key features of the flow. Foremost among those is the shear layer that forms at the sudden expansion characteristic of SFRJ combustors, and the associated vortex shedding, both of which play an important role in flame stabilization. In the present research, large eddy simulation (LES), reduced-order chemical kinetics, and a semi-empirical solid fuel pyrolysis model are used to simulate SFRJ combustion. The first objective of the thesis is to validate the proposed numerical framework by modeling a SFRJ experiment from the literature. The second objective is to study the dynamics of the reacting shear layer that forms downstream of the sudden expansion at the inlet of typical SFRJ combustors, using the temporal mixing layer (TML) framework.

Committee

• Prof. Suresh Menon – School of Aerospace Engineering (advisor)
• Prof. Joseph Oefelein – School of Aerospace Engineering
• Prof. Wenting Sun – School of Aerospace Engineering