Performance and Operability of a Dual-Cavity Flame Holder in a Supersonic Combustor

Supersonic combustion has been of interest for many years in order to support future Air Force hypersonic missions. The current generation of hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet combustors typically requires a flame-holding device to facilitate flame ignition and stable combustion. The amount of time available for fuel injection, fuel-air mixing, and combustion is very short — on the order of 1 millisecond. This short dwell time, along with the relatively long ignition delay times of hydrocarbon fuels, makes the flow path and flame holder design extremely important. This study investigates the perormance and operability of using a symmetric dual-cavity flame holder flow path to stabilize and enhance supersonic combustion.