Reduced-Order Modeling of Turbulent Reacting Flows with Application to Ramjets and Scramjets

A new engine model has been developed for applications requiring run times shorter than a few seconds, such as design optimization or control evaluation. A reduced-order model for mixing and combustion has been developed that is based on nondimensional scaling of turbulent jets in crossflow and tabulated presumed probability distribution function flamelet chemistry. The three-dimensional information from these models is then integrated across cross-sectional planes so that a one-dimensional profile of the reaction rate of each species can be established. Finally, the one-dimensional conservation equations are integrated along the downstream axial direction and the longitudinal evolution of the flow can be computed. The reduced-order model accurately simulates real-gas effects such as dissociation, recombination, and finite rate chemistry for geometries for which the main flow is nearly one-dimensional. Thus, this approach may be applied to any flowpath in which this is the case; ramjets, scramjets, and rockets are good candidates. Comparisons to computational fluid dynamics solutions and experimental data were conducted to determine the validity of this approach.