Affiliations: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyungpook
National University, 1370 Sankyuk-dong Puk-gu, Taegu 702-701, Korea. e-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Three-dimensional flow characteristics in a liquid fuel ramjet
combustor were investigated using the PIV method. The combustor had two
rectangular inlets that form a 90-degree angle with each other, with intake
angles of 30 degrees. Three guide vanes were installed in each rectangular
inlet to improve flow stability. The experiments were performed in a water
tunnel test with the same Reynolds number as Mach 0.3 at the inlet. PIV
software was developed to measure the characteristics of the flow field in the
combustor. Accuracy of the developed PIV program was verified with a rotating
disk experiment and standard data. The experimental results showed that the two
main streams from the rectangular intakes collided near the plane of symmetry
and generated two large longitudinal vortices, which was in agreement with
three dimensional computational results. A large and complex three-dimensional
recirculating flow was measured behind the intakes.