Effect of cooling channel geometry on re-cooled cycle performance for hydrogen fueled scramjet

Developing fuel with higher heat sink is widely carried out to meet the cooling requirement for an airbreathing hypersonic vehicle. However, a Re-Cooled Cycle has been newly proposed for a regeneratively cooled scramjet to reduce the fuel flow for cooling. Fuel heat sink (cooling capacity) is repeatedly used to indirectly increase the fuel heat sink. Parametric sensitivity analysis of Re-Cooled Cycle of a hypersonic aircraft is explored. An analytical fin-type model for incompressible flow in smooth-wall rectangular ducts in terms of hydrodynamic, thermal, power balance and Mach number constraints is proposed. Based on this model, the difference of the cooling channel structure design between Re-Cooled Cycle and regenerative cooling is discussed, and a new optimization index is introduced for Re-Cooled Cycle. The sensitivity of the cycle performance to cooling channel geometry is investigated, and the optimal performance of a Re-Cooled Cycle is obtained by satisfying constraints. The differences of the effect of channel design variables between Re-Cooled Cycle and regenerative cooling are also discussed. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.