Experimental investigation of influence factors on flame holding in a supersonic combustor

In this paper, combustion and flame stability are studied experimentally in a kerosene fueled dual-mode scramjet combustor at various air and fuel conditions. The lean and rich blowout limits of liquid kerosene injected from the wall upstream of a cavity flameholder are examined in Mach 2.0 airflow. The effects of injector configurations on the blowout limit are investigated. It is found that injector configuration has significant effect on the flame stabilization. The lean blowout limit is much lower when using injector C, which has a configuration of 2 x Phi 0.35 mm. But for the rich blowout limit, injector B which has a configuration of 3 x Phi 0.35 mm performs better than others. Therefore, the diameter and distribution of fuel injection holes should be considered fully in combustor design. Furthermore, the influence on blowout limits of combustor entrance total temperature and total pressure are also investigated. As the total temperature increasing, the equivalence ratio range between rich and lean blowout limit become larger. While, compared with the total temperature, the effect of total pressure on the blowout limit is slighter. (C) 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.